Why Me?
by Clearbrook
Summary: Rose Evans is one of those mothers who try to push their children into fame. She wants to stomp the 'abnormality' that was magic out of her teenage daughter. See what happens as Lily gets an unpleasant surprise from a photographer & her life crumbles L/J*
1. Photography

Disclaimer: I only own the original character, and places and the plot.  
  
A/N: Hi Guys. Even though this is not my first L/J fiction, it is the first one I actually like. I think I've fallen for this story. It's my favorite one, so please be nice. Be aware, you can send me flames in your reviews but I don't like them. Constructive criticism yes, flames no. Flames rupture my spirit and steal my will to write, so please.be nice.  
  
Chapter 1: Photo sessions.  
  
Lily Evans sat in the front passenger seat of her mother's Volvo totally lost in thought, wondering 'Is it all worth it?' According to her mother, this was the only solution. In her opinion her daughter couldn't sing or dance and she refused to let her participate in anything athletic.  
  
Rose Evans is one of those mothers who try to push their children into fame. Over and over she told Lily that she was destined for stardom and that this seemed the only way to accomplish that goal, ignoring the fact that Lily could very well be great at something that has to do with the wizarding world, where she was currently going to begin her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
So lost in thought was she, that she didn't even notice they had long since pulled up to the large building, the photographer's office, the modeling agency. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Mrs. Evans demanded. "Come on."  
  
Lily gulped and allowed the big-haired, blonde woman to drag her into the building, griping her wrist with her long press on nails. She pulled back slightly when they approached the door with a large brass plated sign that read 'Studio' and 'Maxwell Clarks, photographer' engraved underneath that. "I can't do this." Lily pleaded. "I'm not cut out to be a model. I don't want to do it."  
  
"Don't be ridiculous." Mrs. Evans replied, giving her daughter a little push through the door. The stepped into a beige colored room where a tall, thin and eerie man was fiddling with a camera.  
  
On the other side of the camera, a white sheet of material was pinned to the wall and hung down to the floor. "Ah, Mrs. Evans." The man said, his voice thick with some weird accent Lily couldn't recognize. He grasped the woman's manicured hand with his thin and clammy one and kissed it. "This must be your lovely daughter, she's gorgeous." Mrs. Evans smiled. "I told you Maxwell. She'll be a model in no time." She nudged Lily forward a little roughly, making her stumble. "N-Nice to meet you Mr. Clarks." She said both politely and nervously.  
  
Clarks waved his hand in the air. "Call me Max. You certainly are beautiful Lila." He added, staring at her a little too flatteringly. "Lily." Lily corrected quietly. Mrs. Evans elbowed her in the back. "T-Thank you." She added. "Alright then. Let us begin." Clarks said. He put a simple three- legged stool in front the white sheet and directed Lily to sit on it with her ankles crossed. Lily tried to smile but felt a queasy feeling as soon as Clarks stated snapping pictures. Mrs. Evans stood behind him with a threatening look on her face. 'Smile' she mouthed.  
  
Afraid of her mother's wrath, she smiled a little unconvincingly. Mrs. Evans expression deepened. Lily looked into the lens of the camera and imagined that her friends were right inside of it, joking with her. "Very nice Miss. Evans." Maxwell said, but he was stopping. Lily sighed in relief and stood to go, thinking he was finished. "I think perhaps Lily would be more comfortable without an audience." He said to her mother. "Don't be silly." Mrs. Evans insisted. "She's got to get used to being watched, and besides I'm her mother. I'd rather stay."  
  
"And I'd rather you leave." Clarks said with an authoritative tone to his voice. Lily begged her mother with her eyes not to leave her alone with this man, but her mother only ignored her and walked out of the room with a cloud of superiority over her head like she was the bloody queen herself. After she was gone, Clarks knelt beside Lily as if she were a toddler of 4 instead of the teenager of 15 she really was. "How are you today Lily?" he sounded as if he really wanted to know. "Okay." Lily answered quietly. This man was invading her personal space and was a little too close for comfort. She wanted him to get as far away from her as soon as possible. He was overly nice and smelled of cheap cologne. It made her sick the way he looked at her.  
  
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From the passenger seat of her mother's car, Lily stared out of the windows at the tree's that passed. She hummed quietly a sad tune that she had learned from her father. Other than that, she was quiet the whole ride home. Scared as she was to talk to her mother, she made her presence known when they stepped inside of the house. Her mother jumped at the sound of Lily's throat clearing. "Yes? What do you want?" Lily took a breath. "I don't want to do those sessions with Mr. Clarks. He makes me uncomfortable. And he tou-."  
  
"LISTEN!" Rose interrupted, yanking her daughter's arm. "I paid a good price to get those sessions done specifically with Maxwell. You're going to go to be on your best behavior. Smile and keep your mouth shut." Lily yanked her arm away and gently massaged the sore spot. "No one asked you to. You did it of your own free will." She said quietly, regretting it a moment later when her mother swung her fist into Lily's chest.  
  
"You WILL go to every session. I don't care if you want to or not. And you'll tell your father how much you enjoy them. Do you understand me?" she added venomously. "Yes Ma'am." Lily answered breathily. Then she turned and ran up to her room.  
  
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Knock, knock. Lily got off of her bed and opened her bedroom door, two hours after the whole fiasco with her mother. "Hi Daddy!" She said happily, hugging Richard Evans tightly. Mr. Evans laughed and patted her back lovingly. "Hello dear. Did you have a good day?" Lily nodded. "Yes sir." She lied. Mr. Evans smiled. "Good then. So you've got a birthday coming up. Sweet sixteen. Do you want a party?" Lily's eyes lit up. "Oh! Can I?" Mr. Evans laughed. "Of course dear. What's wrong?" he added when Lily's face fell. "All of my friends are guys. I don't have any girl friends. Not any that I know that well anyways, besides the nice ones I share my dorm with."  
  
Richard frowned then. "They still giving you a hard time at school?" Lily told of almost everything that happened at school in her letters home. Her father understood perfectly about things like Quidditch and the four houses, almost like he was a wizard himself. Mrs. Evans, however, couldn't care less about what happened at that school. She personally wished to stomp the 'abnormality' that was her magic right out of her. Lily's older sister Petunia had turned out exactly like her. (Mrs. Evans I mean.)  
  
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Over the remainder of the summer, Lily continued to go to Maxwell Clarks' studio. She almost got a nasty surprise every time now. One particular time was exactly two days before her birthday party. She fled from the studio and launched herself down the street. Mrs. Evans got into her car and sped away, looking for her. When she finally pulled to a stop next to her daughter, she was more concerned with the fact that she was crouched on a fire hydrant that happened to be a few yards away from a homeless man, than with the fact that she was pale, clammy, and teary-eyed.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" She demanded. Lily blinked her eyes and silently got into the car. "What's wrong with you?" she repeated harshly. Lily attempted to hide her tears but failed miserably. Mrs. Evans patted her back in a manner, which she must have thought consoling. It made Lily feel like a child who had fallen and scraped her knee. "Don't cry." Mrs. Evans went on. Lily almost liked her mother for a second before she said this: "Believe me it's happened to me many, many times. You just have to learn to deal with them." Lily pulled away from her mother and strapped on her seatbelt.  
  
It turns out, the way Mrs. Evans dealt was to buy two burgers from a drive- thru window. It might have settled the aguish-y hollow feeling in Lily's stomach if she would have eaten it. But she threw it out of the window when they drove past a dumpster.  
  
As soon as she was through the front door, Lily ran up stairs and the slam of her bedroom door could be heard.  
  
A/N: How do you like it? I think it turned out nicely. Please review! Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please!!! * Clearbrook * 


	2. Happy Birthday?

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything you recognize that didn't come from my first chapter belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Chapter 2: Happy Birthday?  
  
Over the next few weeks, Lily found that, unable to tell her father of her predicament, her only confidant was her boyfriend, Derik Jones. She would have written her friends, just to be able to talk to someone, but the situation was too awkward and painful to write down for anyone to find.  
  
As she prepared for her sweet sixteenth/pool party, she thought of Derik and how strange his behavior had been lately and frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Seeing how the pair had only been dating for a few months and Lily hadn't even allowed him to kiss her yet, she probably wouldn't be very surprised if he were cheating on her. Then she thought of her best friend and what he would do to Derik if he cheated on her and she had to smile.  
  
"I got it!" She yelled as the doorbell rang, launching herself down the stars, Mr. Evans laughed as the red blur that was his daughter rushed past him. Mrs. Evans clucked her teeth disapprovingly from where she was reading her fashion magazine on the couch in the living room.  
  
"Hi guys." She said happily, having opened the door to reveal 3 of her 5 roommates.  
  
Danielle Pierce had long brown hair (that was nowhere neat as long as Lily's, whose hair fell past her waist) and dazzling hazel eyes. Though Lily didn't know her very well, she had invited her because she had never been cruel to her like the two roommates who will go unnamed for now.  
  
Nicola Trent had medium length dark hair that was naturally highlighted, and brown eyes. Her full figured frame reached 5'4. Lily didn't know her very well either, but she had always been kind to Lily.  
  
Lastly there was Alex Larson, Lily's only friend friend that was a girl. The outlandish girl who didn't care what people though of her, had shoulder length dark brown hair that was permed straight and highlighted turquoise with magic. Her dark-skinned frame reached a height of 5'6, almost as tall as Lily who was 5'8. She was one half of the duo that was composed of Lily's best friends.  
  
"Happy Birthday Lily!" They said one by one as Lily stepped aside to let them into the house. Lily grinned and hugged each of them in turn. "Dad, you remember Alex, (Mr. Evans nodded) this is Nicola and this is Danielle." Mr. Evans smiled and shook each of the girls' hands. "It's nice to meet you." He said. "Guys, this is my Dad and this is-." As she began to introduce Mrs. Evans, she stood from the couch and stomped up the stairs.  
  
Before Lily had time to frown after her, the quiet fireplace burst into green flames and out stepped her other best friend. James Potter dusted soot out of his forever-untidy hair and looked up with gold-flecked brown eyes behind thin-and-black-rimmed glasses and smiled. "Happy Birthday Lils." He said, giving her a hug that lifted her off her feet. "Thanks James." He sat her down just as the fireplace burst into flames for the second time and out stepped another of Lily's guy friends.  
  
Sirius Black, AKA Padfoot to his closest friends, hastily dusted off his muggle clothing. His neatly trimmed black hair and deep black eyes made him the second most sought after boy in all of Hogwarts. (James was the first) He was sweet, funny, and always stuck up for his friends. But he took advantage of his value at Hogwarts and went through girls like aurors went through donuts.  
  
No sooner than Lily hugged him and kissed him on his cheek, did the fireplace light up again and Peter Pettigrew stepped out. Nick-named Wormtail for a good reason, this mousy blonde was somewhat the black sheep of the group of friends. He was quiet and shy but he was also funny and kind. He wasn't at all athletic or tall like the others but didn't stop Lily from liking him at all. She hugged and kissed him as well when the fireplace re-ignited once more and the last figure emerged from the flames.  
  
Remus Lupin, AKA Moony, was as tall as James and Sirius, with light brown hair, and warm gray eyes. He was the more logical and sensible out of the four boys, now assembled in the Evans' living room, otherwise known as the Marauders,  
  
As the seven guests greeted each other, Lily waited by the fireplace for one last guest, but none came. Instead a barn owl fluttered through the open window. Her heart nearly-visibly sank down to her feet and her face showed her disappointment.  
  
"He's not coming?" Alex asked softly, knowing whom she had been waiting for. "I dunno." Lily answered, taking the rolled up piece of parchment form the owl, which flew right back to its owner as soon as it's burden was lifted. "Lily," she read out loud. "Had a change of plans. A family thing. See you around." Then she stared at the parchment for a long moment. She gasped as the corner of the parchment went suddenly aflame. The whole thing flared up as she tossed it into the empty fireplace to avoid being burned.  
  
"Weird." She muttered as the small fire extinguished itself. "Anyways, I have to go to Diagon Alley really quickly to get some floo powder. Do you guys feel like walking with me?" &&&  
  
In her room, Lily removed the t-shirt and shorts that she had worn over her bathing suit and put on a knee-length bright yellow sundress with a thin white stripe just below the chest, white spaghetti straps, and a white border along the top and bottom hem. The she took her long hair out of its braid and put on straw wedge-heeled sandals. She was back downstairs in record time.  
  
"Where are you going young lady?" Mrs. Evans asked sharply as her daughter and her friends headed for the front door. "I'm going to Diagon Alley." Lily grumbled. She wasn't exactly happy with her mother at present. But then again, she's never happy with her mother, but now things between the two were worse than usual. "Oh no you're not." Lily whirled around while the others looked on awkwardly. "Yes I am." Mrs. Evans sighed and tried to sound like she was actually trying to be a good mother. "It's not safe." It took all of Lily's will power not to say something nasty. "It's perfectly safe." She decided on.  
  
"What if someone recognizes you or some random nut decides that he likes you and tries to steal you?" Lily snorted. "I'm not some world renown supermodel okay? No one's going to recognize me except for people from school. And secondly, my face is nothing special so no one's going to steal me. It's not a big deal."  
  
Mrs. Evans took a step towards Lily as if ready to strike. Lily backed up a step and accidentally stepped on Sirius' foot. "Look, Lily dear," Rose went on in a strangled sort of voice. Lily's eyes widened and she fought the urge to step back again. 'Please don't let her hit me' she thought. 'Not in front of my friends!' "Rose!" Mr. Evans called from upstairs somewhere. "Come here a moment!" Lily said a silent prayer of thanks and herded her friends out of the door before her mother could object.  
  
"OMIGOSH!" Danielle exclaimed as they walked down the street. "She looked like she would do something drastic!" Lily winced and wished for something large to shove in the girl's mouth to shut her up. A mean thought, but she couldn't help it. "So, You made prefect this year Lil?" Alex asked, purposely changing the subject. Lily shot her a grateful look and nodded. "Yup." James snorted, "Of course." Lily swung playfully at his arm. "Why wouldn't she?" Sirius asked in a sweet voice. "I mean.she's a perfect angel isn't she?" Lily stopped walking and gave the boy a curious look. She could almost sort out the hidden message in that statement. "Never mind." She muttered under her breath and catching up with Alex.  
  
It was only about ten minutes before the group was standing at the familiar brick wall behind The Leaky Cauldron. Remus tapped the third brick with his wand and the eight teenagers entered Diagon Alley.  
  
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They stood in the small dank shop as Lily searched for floo powder. "I'll be right back." Danielle said. "I spotted somebody I know." And she left the store without another word. "So what's up with Derik?" Peter asked quietly. "Doesn't he seem to be acting oddly?" Remus nodded. "It's weird. "I've never heard of him acting like this before." Lily stayed quiet as she looked around a bit more, smiling as she picked up a crystal statue. It would go well with the décor in her father's study. "You're buying this then?" The young male wizard behind the counter asked, as she approached with the statue and a jar of Floo powder.  
  
"You know," he said, leaning forward on the counter. Lily scooted back a bit. "They say that this here statue induces good luck. She smiled politely at the boy. "Really now? Shame I have to be going though, otherwise I could ask you about it. How much do I owe you?" The boy grinned outright. "On me." Lily resisted the urge to either laugh or choke and thanked the boy before leaving.  
  
"Shame I have to be going though!" Sirius mocked in a high voice, batting his eyelashes. "Oh shut up Si." Lily retorted, smiling. As she looked out into the street, her smile faded and the statue slipped from her grip. "Crud." She muttered. Remus repaired it with his wand. "You okay Lily?" he asked. Then he followed her gaze. "Uh-oh." He said.  
  
A/N: Well that's chapter 2! I'm very proud of myself! And it's a cliffhanger! Go Clearbrook, Go Clearbrook! Sorry, I'm a bit hyper.  
  
buggy-such: Thank you! I'm really proud of my plot.  
  
fae: Thanks! Of course Lily and James are going to get together. I wouldn't have it anyway.  
  
Lavinia: Thanx! You have no idea how much it means to me that people like my story!  
  
LilyPrincess: Thank you sooooooo much!!! 


	3. A Party Crasher

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. JK owns all else.  
  
A/N: I am changing it so that Lily and the Marauders etc. are starting 5th year not 6th!!!  
  
Muslima: Thanks! It took me forever to come up with that summary! Glad you like it.  
  
Shayomac: Thanks a bunch! Glad to see some people like my story.  
  
Buggy-such: Heh. I do have the plot figured out.to about the middle of sixth year anyways. Is it really that obvious what Lily saw? Guess I'll have to keep you stumped next time.but it's not Danielle; hint, hint. That's exactly what I want Lily's mum to come off as. (It's good to know that there are actually people who keep control of their language like you and my friend Muslima. I swear like I was born to do it. :p)  
  
Ginny-Potter: Heh, THANKS!!!!! Your review really made my day! Thanks for putting me on your favs list too. I'm telling you who it is in this chapter.  
  
Mystikalolo: You'll find out in this chappie!  
  
Lilypad-james: Thanks!!!!  
  
Leibling: Evil for that cliffie aren't I? Lily's mum IS terrible. LILY/JAMES ALL THE WAY! (Sorry, too much sugar)  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
"Ooh, busted." Sirius said quietly. "Somebody's in for it." They all watched the familiar blonde, blue-eyed boy eating ice cream at a small table across the road. He sat there, tapping his fingers impatiently as if waiting for someone. Lily prayed that, for his own safety, he was waiting for a family member and not some girl.  
  
To her ever-growing horror, a Ravenclaw girl in their year sat down across from him. "She had better be just making polite conversation." Danielle, who had just rejoined the group, said. The boy smiled and Lily got a sick feeling in her stomach. He used to look at her like that once, before he'd tried to kiss her and she'd made him stop. (Lily had never been kissed before.) Sure enough, Derik leaned over and kissed Gwyneth passionately on the lips. "I can't watch this." Lily muttered and pushed past Sirius and Remus, taking off down the street. Sirius, James and Remus had half a mind to go over and talk to Derik, but instead, they grabbed Peter and left in pursuit of the girls, who had gone after Lily.  
  
When they were all together, Lily was standing with her back against a wall with the girls all standing around her. "It's not that bad Lils." Alex said. "Nah, I kinda knew something was going on. I just didn't want to believe it."  
  
"His loss anyways." Danielle said, smiling warmly. Lily straightened up and smiled warily. "Thanks you guys. C'mon let' go. We still have a party to go to." The walk home was almost totally silent. The only occasional conversation came from all except Lily. She, meanwhile, stared out into space, lost in the depths of her own thoughts. James put his arm around her in a comforting and friendly manner.  
  
She smiled inside, missing the days when the two would go walking around the castle, laughing and joking with each other, A pained look clouded her eyes when she remembered why she had been distant with her friends in the recent past in the first place.Derik.  
  
Ever since Lily agreed o go out with the Hufflepuff, he'd acted like she'd been cheating on him with one of the Marauders every chance she got, or that she would any moment if she hadn't already.  
  
Feeling the warm itchy feeling you get when tears would come, she took a deep shaky breath and pushed the tears as far back as possible. James, who saw her eyes film over, grabbed her left hand with his and entwined his fingers with. (Now his left arm was over her shoulders and his left hand was holding her left hand.) She smiled briefly and pushed the tears even farther back.  
  
'It's nice like this.' She thought. 'Just walking with my friends without having to worry about any and everything.' Lily arrived home (with her friends of course) with a big fake smile plastered on her face, convincing almost everyone that the 'Derik incident' was out of her mind and that she was thinking of nothing but her friends and her birthday.  
  
But after hours of false smiles and fake cheeriness, she found herself needing to get away and slipping onto the balcony adjacent to her bedroom. A hand that was not hers, rested upon her shoulder just as she lifted her face heavenward and sighed deeply. "You alright Lils?" Alex asked carefully. "Yeah I'm good." Lily answered. "I just needed to get away for a bit you know?"  
  
Alex smiled and leaned her back against the balcony. "Yeah. It is a bit much huh? I'll leave you out here to think but be warned. James'll probably come looking for you." Lily looked curiously at her friend's mischievous grin. "What's that supposed to mean?" Alex shook her head. "Nothing. See you." The dark haired girl disappeared back into the house without another word offered.  
  
After only a few moments more of contemplation, Lily headed back inside, sighing when she heard the angry raised voices in the living room. "Hey, hey, hey!" she said loudly, raising her hands. "What's all the arguing a-?" She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the blonde boy who was the center of the commotion. "Derik, what are you doing here?" she asked in a tired voice.  
  
"Hmm, I don't know, to see my girlfriend perhaps?" He answered a bit sarcastically. "I think you need to leave." Lily jabbed her thumb towards the fireplace. "What's up with everybody?" Derik wanted to know. "I come out of my way to catch the last part of my girlfriends birthday party and everyone's giving me grief."  
  
"Oh giving you grief are we? What's everybody's problem you want to know? I don't know, why don't you ask Gwyneth?" Derik didn't let his face show his shock. "What are you talking about?" Lily calmly turned towards her friends, who were standing to the side awkwardly, and asked them, with her eyes, to go into the kitchen.  
  
"I was in Diagon Alley today." She stated in a deadly quiet voice when the room was empty except for the quarreling pair. "And I saw you with that Ravenclaw." Derik's face paled slightly but his expression never faltered. "You're either blind or lying because I was at home with my family, just like I told you."  
  
"You have got some nerve to sit here and call me a liar. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you weren't sitting in front of the ice cream shop, in Diagon Alley, kissing that Ravenclaw Gwyneth Reynolds." Derik said nothing. "You need to go now." She said firmly. He took a step towards her to try and defend himself. "Go now." She repeated. "Fine." He replied. "Go right in there and hide from the world behind Potter like you always do."  
  
"Don't speak of what you don't know."  
  
"I know perfectly well what I'm talking about."  
  
"No you don't. Ever since I started going out with you, you've had these non-stop issues about my friendship with the guys. Well you don't have to worry about that anymore," Lily went on. "Because we're not going out anymore." Derik took two bold steps towards her. "You're right. I did have issues about that. Even when we were dating, you spent more time with the Marauders than with me. Especially James."  
  
"News Flash!" Lily shouted. "He's my best friend! Just because we were dating didn't mean that you were promised every second of my time. But I no longer have to explain myself to you! You need to leave! Now." Derik turned towards the fireplace. "Fine. But let me ask you one question before I go. Where was Potter whilst you were playing Damsel-In-Distress at the studio." He new instantly that he had gone too far. But oh well, too late to take it back now. Lily turned red her face took on a scary-angry expression. It was replaced almost immediately by a sad pained look.  
  
'I won't let him see me cry.' She thought. 'Not again.' She waited until he was in the fireplace and out of sight before letting loose a shuddering watery sigh and bitter salty tears. Hearing the rush of the fireplace, the others came nervously out of the kitchen. "You okay?" Sirius asked quietly. "No." she replied, turning and running out of the front door, nearly trampling her parents who were returning from the grocery store. "Oh!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed. 


	4. A Kiss, A Movie, & A Resolution

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything else you recognize belongs to JK Rowling.  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
The nine people stood in the entrance hall of the Evans' house in a sort of state of shock. Alex recovered first. "You should go after her." Sirius said, recovering next. "Go James." Alex gave him a gentle push towards the door. That was all the encouragement he needed. He left almost as quickly as Lily had. "Anyone mind telling me what's going on?" Mr. Evans asked. "We don't even know." Remus confessed.  
  
"Lily wait!" She heard the voice but didn't halt. Only when she reached a children's playground did she stop, basking momentarily in the moonlight. Sighing, she seated herself in one of the swings in the swing-set bordering the park. "Why'd you run off like that?" James asked, panting slightly. "It's getting to me." She answered hesitantly. "All this is stressing me out. I know I shouldn't let it but I can't help it." James walked behind her and pushed the swing gently, almost letting his hand rest on her back.  
  
"If this is about something Derik said, just ignore it." He told her. "There's always going to be ignorant people who try to hurt you or simply annoy you because they can and they know it annoys you. You have to ignore it." He pushed her again and she giggled suddenly. "What?"  
  
"You sound like my dad." He chuckled softly. "Well it's the truth." He stopped the swing gently, grabbing the chains. "Ignore it." He repeated softly, whispering her ear. Lily wondered did he see the shiver run down her spine. She felt a tingly feeling slide down her arms when he touched her, steadying the swing. "Ignore it. Right." She said, slowly turning to face him. Looking into his eyes was her first mistake.  
  
The brown sphere's mirrored her own feelings. How would you describe it? Maybe, confusion, and.what's the word.like? No.love? ' I seriously doubt it.' She thought. As I said, looking into her eyes had been her first mistake. Kissing him was her second. Slowly she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his beneath the healthy glow of a crescent moon.  
  
"Oh my god." Lily whispered, breaking away. "I-I-I'm sorry." She stood and backed out of the swing, nearly tripping on her own feet. James grabbed her wrist just before she hit the dirt. "Lily, I.wait uh.Let's go." Lily nodded, and they started silently towards the house. 'You idiot!' James chided. 'Let's go? You couldn't think of anything better to say? God she probably thinks you hate her now! Or worse.she hates YOU! You moron!'  
  
'Way to go Lil.' The redhead chastised silently. 'Great, what'd you kiss him for you dolt? Now he probably thinks you like him.maybe I do like him.Stop thinking like that! He might even think you hate him for jumping away like that! Or worse.he hates YOU! You moron!' Wiping their faces of all expression, Lily and James walked into the Evans home, one after the other.  
  
"We were about to send a search party after you two!" Mr. Evans joked when the came into the living room. "No need." Lily said distractedly. "Uh-oh." Alex mouthed to no one in particular. "Well, your mother's already in bed and I'm on my way. Goodnight." Mr. Evans kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Night Daddy." She said yawning herself.  
  
Two hours and thirty-seven minutes later, the group of friends had talked themselves senseless and the boys were all dead tired. So everyone went off in three different directions. The girls all headed to Lily's room, Peter headed home, and the rest of the guys went to sleep in the guestroom across the hall. All changed into their pajamas, the four Gryffindor teens sat in a circle on top of about three blankets spread out over the floor. "Let's play truth or dare!" Alex challenged in a sly voice. It was her subtle way of trying to cheer Lily up from whatever was wrong with her.  
  
"Alright then," she said when everyone had agreed. "Lily, truth or dare." Lily pretended to be thoughtful for a second. This was like her favorite game in the world. "Truth." She declared. Alex grinned. "Who was the first boy you kissed?" Lily made sure her face looked sly and secretive, but inside she was hesitant. What would she tell them? "It was Derik wasn't it?" Danielle asked. Lily shook her head in an I-know-something-you-don't- know-manner. "Is it someone we all know?" Lily nodded, getting butterflies in her stomach. "Wait," Alex demanded. "Before you tell us who it is, have you ever even kissed Derik?" Lily shook her head. "Go on then, who is it?" Nicola prodded.  
  
"James." Lily said, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Sorry?" Alex said. "Who?" Lily flushed bright red and made sure no one was standing outside of her door before running back to the blankets and crossing her legs. Finally she said "James" very quietly. "OH MY GOD!" Alex cried happily. "How long ago? When?" Lily turned a shade redder and looked at the clock. "About three hours ago." She whispered. Nicola, Danielle, and Alex all gasped at once. "When he went looking for you?" Danielle cooed. "How sweet!"  
  
"Shush!" Lily hissed desperately. "I don't know how well he took it, I mean, he just looked.shocked. He might hate me now! Things might be awkward between us. He may never want to talk to me again!"  
  
"Lils calm down!" Alex said laughing. "He's been you best friend for how long? If you didn't mean it tell him it was a misunderstanding or something." Lily nodded slowly and turned out the light. "Night guys." She said. "Night." The other three said, stretching out and getting comfortable. As the others fell asleep in the dark, Lily lay on her back and thought. 'What if I did mean it?' she wondered, finally falling asleep with a deep sigh.  
  
The sun shone brightly through Lily's window the next morning, making her hair shine as she stretched herself awake. 'Crap' She thought, remembering the previous day's events as she looked around at her sleeping friends. "My somebody looks troubled." A deep voice said. She jumped to see the Marauders standing in her room. "Sirius! Guys you scared me!" They grinned and made themselves comfortable on the floor against the wall opposite her and the girls.  
  
"Wake-y, wake-y!" Remus crowed. Lily groaned and the other three woke up. "Morning guys." Alex said cheerily. She always was the morning person of the whole lot. "You cheeriness makes me want to beat you senseless." Danielle mumbled. "Allow me." Nicola grabbed a pillow and smacked Alex in the back of the head with it. "Aren't you a happy lot this morning." James said sarcastically. Nicola shrugged and lied back down on her pillow. "Ah- ah-ah." Sirius said, "We've got to get up sooner or later."  
  
"I prefer later." Nicola mumbled. "I'm with her." Danielle said. "Fine! I'm sick of it altogether!" a female's voice yelled from somewhere downstairs. Lily's eyes widened. They hear a deeper voice say something faintly. "I will not keep my voice down!" the female voice yelled again. "You tell her, because I'm sick of that ungrateful brat too!" then the front door slammed. Lily groaned and covered her head with the pillow. Alex winced. "LILS!" Mr. Evans yelled from downstairs. "I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" Lily excused herself and disappeared, returning, solemn faced, twenty minutes later. "What's wrong?" Nicola asked quietly. "Nothing, my parents just finalized a divorce. It's okay though. I never was close to my Mum anyway, she never even liked me, and I'm kind of glad she's gone."  
  
No one knew what to say to break Lily out of her little trance, so they all went into the boys' room while taking turns taking showers in the bathroom. James was second to last in. He walked out of the bathroom about an hour and a half after Lily's parents' fight and stuck his head inside of Lily's room. "Everyone's showered already. Your dad says if you can get ready in the next hour we'll go to a movie.whatever that is." Lily nodded and gathered clothes, before filing past James and into the bathroom, the whole time avoiding his eyes.  
  
"Okay, what exactly is a movie?" Sirius asked, as they stood outside of the cinema. "It's like watching a long television show on a really big television." Remus explained. Sirius shrugged, still totally lost. "Horror, Romance, Comedy or Drama?" Lily asked. "Horror!" James and Remus said at the same time. The girls all rolled their eyes and Lily paid for the tickets.  
  
This is how they sat: Alex, Sirius, Danielle, Remus, Nicola, James, and then Lily, who was sure that Alex made sure she sat by James on purpose. Throughout the movie, Lily jumped, screamed once and squeezed the living daylights out of James's arm. "What was up with you Lils?" Remus asked as they left the theatre. "I.hate.snakes." She answered, shivering. "So why didn't you pick a different show?" Alex asked. "How was I supposed to know what Anaconda was?"  
  
That night, when all of her friends had gone home, Lily lay awake in her bed, mulling over her thoughts. 'I wonder what's going to happen between James and I. We were a little distant today, but I suppose that was my doing. Ah well. Maybe I'll find out what's going on tomorrow when we see each other on the Hogwarts Express.'  
  
Slowly her train of thought shifted ever so slightly. 'I think I really do like James. Does it necessarily mean that you like someone when almost all of your thoughts revolve around him? Or when you're happy when he is and hate to see him sad? I wonder. It's weird though, I like just to be close to him or to see him smile or.listen to yourself Lily! You like him and you know it.' The last resolution she made before falling asleep was a vow to find out what James thought of her when they were at Hogwarts. Maybe.if he liked her too.who knows what would happen?  
  
A/N: Another lovely chappy! Aren't you overjoyed? I am! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! It really encourages me to write. Coming soon: Chapter 5: Back at Hogwarts! 


	5. Back at Hogwarts

Disclaimer: I own the original characters and the plot. JK owns all else.  
  
Chapter 5: Back at Hogwarts  
  
Before anyone knew it, the group of Gryffindor teens found themselves back on the Hogwarts Express in no time. No seemed to notice Lily's off disposition and the troubled look that replaced her normally cheery expression.  
  
As they talked, the red headed girl stared constantly out of the window, only turning when the witch with the snack cart came or one of her friends called her attention to something. Not once did she participate in the actual conversation.  
  
"Are you okay Lily?" Remus whispered as the frightened first years filed into the Great Hall. "You've seemed kind of sad all day." Okay maybe somebody did notice. "Yeah, I've just been wondering how to do something. I think I've just about got it figured out though." Remus nodded as Professor McGonagall walked into the room with the sorting hat. The sorting passed agonizingly slowly for some, and frighteningly fast for others, mainly first years. Anyhow, the feast soon passed and everyone followed their prefects up to their houses.  
  
Lily didn't even stay in the common room to talk to her friends. Instead, she marched up to the fifth year girls' dormitory and changed into shorts and a tee shirt. "Aw, did your friends finally get smart and dump you?" A silky voice asked. Lily looked up to see one of her meaner roommates, Donna Jacobson and her counterpart, Tracie McKinnon standing over her. "Shove off I'm trying to sleep." Lily said, firmly shutting the curtains around her four-poster. Then she smiled into the warm blankets. "I'm finally back at Hogwarts," she thought happily, before slipping into a dreamless sleep.  
  
When James awoke that morning, he felt a tugging at the back of his mind, like there was something he should be looking for or paying attention to, but he ignored it, standing with a happy smile. It felt wonderful to be back at Hogwarts again. Whistling, he showered and dressed and then headed down to the common room with his fellow Marauders.  
  
"Don't you lot look happily evil?" They turned to see Alex coming down the stairs, followed by Lily, Danielle, and Nicola. "Good morning to you too Alex." Remus replied. Alex smirked at him and the rest of the hellish foursome. "Morning guys." Lily sang with a happy lilt in her voice. "Morning ladies." Sirius replied, winking at them. Nicola rolled her eyes and as just about to reply when a blonde figure pushed past her and made a beeline for James.  
  
"Hi James." Tracie said, somewhat seductively, flashing him a 200-watt smile. Normally, Lily would have rolled her eyes and smiled like the rest of her friends as James would step away and make an excuse to leave, but this time was different. James actually smiled at the girl while everyone else smiled or sighed.  
  
"See you downstairs." Lily said, pretending to choke back a laugh while she headed for the portrait whole without her friends. Out of sight, she walked quickly towards the Great Hall.  
  
James smiled brightly at Tracie, inwardly groaning. 'Take a hint.' He thought. "See you downstairs." Lily said grinning. For someone who claimed to not have feelings for his best bud, he sure felt a little bad just then. 'Why? Why does she seem not to even care that I seem not to even care that Tracie is flirting with me again? Wait, I've confused myself.'  
  
&&&  
  
A dark figure approached Lily from the shadows. She jumped slightly. "It's only me." The figure said, stepping into the light. Lily sighed. "What do you want?"  
  
"I know I've made a horrible mistake," the figure spoke in a hushed, raspy voice. "But I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was doing and I really didn't mean to hurt you."  
  
"But you did." Lily interrupted. "If only you knew how much what you said hurt me. I, I want to forgive you." her voice trailed off. "So forgive me," the person insisted. "What's stopping you?" Lily backed away as the person tried to grab her hands. "A lot of things." She responded. "I'm too confused right now. I'm torn between difficult decisions I don't know what I want. From you or anybody else."  
  
"What's confusing?" The person demanded. "We belong together, there's no confusion about it. Let's just go back to the way things were before? Please Lily!"  
  
Lily drew back again. "Whose says I want things that way? If we were so perfect for each other than why did you say what you said and do what you did? You hurt me!" she added desperately.  
  
"Yes we've established that but I told you already, I'm sorry!" Lily made a face at the bitterness in the person's voice. "See what I mean?" she said. "This rude inconsideration for my feelings? I don't deserve that. And besides, I. I told you I'm torn between decisions right now. I can't think about this right now." And she turned to continue on her way.  
  
The person took out their wand and Lily instantly felt all the cloudiness clear out of her brain. She felt foolishly happy and relaxed, even with the little voice inside her head. 'I'm good for you Lily' The voice said. "Yes of course," Lily muttered. "Good for me."  
  
'I'll give you time but we are going to be together forever do you understand?' Lily nodded. 'And another thing.'  
  
"Morning Fellow Gryffindors." Sirius said as he sat himself at the table between his friends. "Hey, didn't Lily leave before us?" Alex pointed out. "Where is she?"  
  
"Maybe she just went on to her first class." Remus said. "She can't have," Danielle pointed out. "Here're our schedules now." She pointed to the school owls flying overhead. Lily's letter was dropped into the middle of the table.  
  
Breakfast came and gone, and there was still no sign of the fifth year red head. "Well since you're the only one whose got first period with her so you take her schedule." James said to Sirius. He nodded and went off to Arithmancy while Peter headed for Muggle Studies and everyone else to Divination.  
  
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*  
  
"But I can't." Lily replied stupidly but truthfully. "I want to be with James." This made the person's blood boil and Lily was grabbed roughly by the arms. 'No you don't. He's like Max Clarks and you don't want that do you?'  
  
Lily nodded quickly. She might be temporarily dim witted but she got the hint. The person muttered another spell and commanded Lily to go off to class.  
  
&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&  
  
"Where were you?" Sirius whispered as Lily took a seat next to him just as the professor began the lesson for the day. "I-I don't remember!" Lily whispered back. "And I have a headache."  
  
Sirius looked at Lily strangely, but then began to pay attention to Professor Fergal. "Good morning students." He said cheerily. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Professor Fergal. I don't believe I know many of you. How many of you were in one of my 4th years classes last year?"  
  
Only Lily, Sirius and two Hufflepuff students out of the 23 present raised their hands. "I do believe all my other pupils have quit on me since this is my only fifth year class." Fergal chuckled. "Chickens."  
  
As the class departed for the morning, Lily shook her head and stumbled. "You okay?" Sirius asked, catching her by the arm. "Yeah I'm fine." Lily replied. "Liar." Sirius joked heavily.  
  
They walked into the corridor at the same time as Peter, whose class was across from theirs. "Hey Lils." Peter said. Lily smiled in greeting but stumbled again. "Um, you okay?" Lily nodded. "We have transfiguration with Slytherin next, better hurry." She muttered. Both boys gave her funny looks as the headed up the staircase to the transfiguration room.  
  
Alex, Remus, James, Nicola and Danielle met them on the third floor landing, coming down the stairs from Divination. "Hey guys." Lily said sleepily. Then she walked ahead of them. "What's up with her?" Remus asked. "Wasn't she wide awake earlier?" Sirius nodded. "She came to class late and said she had a headache and couldn't remember what happened.  
  
"Maybe it's stress or something?" Danielle suggested. They sped up to catch Lily but it turned out they didn't need to; Lily slowed down and stumbled for the third time, this time falling against the wall and sliding to the floor clutching her head.  
  
"Are you okay Lily?" James asked, kneeling next to her and reaching to help her stand. She cried out and jerked violently out of his reach. "Don't touch me!" She demanded. James backed away with wide eyes as Lily scrambled to her feet. The last thing she saw was James' hurt face before she saw only black.  
  
A/N: Evil aren't I? I know this chapter was rather on the dull side but this information was needed I swear! Please don't throw rotten fruit at me!!!!!!!  
  
* Ducks a perfectly fresh watermelon * You people take things too seriously * shaking fist * I meant don't throw anything at me at all! Jeez!  
  
If you review, James and Lily may even get together in the next chapter. Oh yeah, and what was with the person you ask? It'll be in the next chapter, but there may not even be a next chapter if no one reviews! REVIEW PLEASE!!!!! 


	6. Remembering

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to her. (You know whom I'm speaking of)  
  
Chapter 6: Remembering  
  
LILY'S POV:  
  
I woke up in an all white room. "Where am I?" I shut my eyes against the bright light. "In the hospital wing." Came the brisk answer to my question. "And I'm the new nurse Madame Pomfrey." She forced an ice cold and slimy drink down my throat. I gagged, but swallowed anyway. It reminded me of the squashed reptile parts we use in Potions class.  
  
"A young, Mr. Black tells me that you weren't able to remember what happened." Pomfrey said after a while. "Can you tell me now?" I closed my eyes and focused around the huge headache that was making it self at home in my skull. "Derik," I muttered as it came back to me. "Derik stopped me in the hall way. Told me a load of bull about how he didn't mean it."  
  
Pomfrey stayed quiet as I spilt out the story, leaving out some parts that were still foggy. I'm guessing the potion wasn't fully in effect yet. "How did you feel when he cast the spell on you?" She asked when I had finished. "I felt dizzy is all," I replied. I wouldn't tell her that I knew exactly what the curse was because of just that. I did know what the curse was and I didn't want him to get expelled, because the curse was illegal, no matter how much I hated him just then. The nurse shook her head sadly. "In my day when a girl wouldn't have anything to young men, they'd leave her alone not curse her."  
  
"Whatever it was it should not have affected you that way though," She went on as if her charge were not lying directly in front of her. "No, not at all. I'll have to run tests to see why it addled your brain like that."  
  
I kept quiet and thought. Why had I passed out? As I sat there, being poked from many uncomfortable angles with a wand and being experimented on with spells. It was a full hour before I was allowed to sit up in bed, but Pomfrey still wasn't done yet. She made me lift up my shirt from behind and she poked me again with her wand, this time in the back. I felt like she'd given me a shot or something like the Muggle doctors do. At any rate I felt something pass through I my skin. It made me shake.  
  
"I've drawn some blood now I have to test it." I watched her store a vial with my blood in it in a cabinet for safekeeping. I wasn't squeamish or anything, but seeing my blood when I knew I had no wound felt weird. What was that other part of that meeting with Derik that I couldn't remember?  
  
"Is she awake?" A familiar voice asked from the doorway. I looked up and saw my friends standing there. Madame Pomfrey immediately kicked them out and shoved my clothes at me, ordering me to get dressed. Somebody's got an attitude!  
  
I started to ask her how she got my clothes when they weren't the Hogwarts robes I had been wearing. I quickly shut my mouth, deciding against a stupid question. Alex probably brought them down. Once I dressed, I was allowed to leave, but not without a final warning: If you feel dizzy sit down. No fighting or arguing or anything strenuous on the brain.  
  
"Wait up Lils!" I turned and saw my friends waiting for me and I smiled weakly. I didn't see James and I wanted to throw up. Suddenly I remembered the rest of the meeting with Derik. I had told him about my wanting to ask James out and he told me not to. 'He's like Max Clarks and you don't want that do you?'  
  
That jerk! Not James mind you, but Derik. The world seemed to lurch and I forced myself to calm down as my vision righted itself. I wanted to cry right there. How could he do that!  
  
To use that against me that way! I pushed back horrible memories and then the world lurched again, and this time, me with it. I leaned heavily against the wall to keep from landing on my face.  
  
"You're two steps outside of the hospital wing," Remus said, helping me right myself again. "We're not trying to have you go back."  
  
"I feel sick." I muttered. I feel horrible is what I really meant. Not sick. I'd hurt James and it was my fault for opening my big mouth.  
  
I righted myself on my own this time, and took a deep breath. "Let's go to dinner then." Alex said, taking my arm. I smiled and walked down to the Great Hall surrounded by my friends, but not my closest one.  
  
My stomach practically jumped into my throat when we headed towards the Gryffindor table. I took my usual seat between James and Alex and looked around.  
  
How long had I been unconscious anyway? One could only wonder seeing how no one was wearing his or her uniforms. "What day is it?" I whispered to Alex. "Friday. We just had our last class about an hour ago, that's why no one's wearing their robes."  
  
I gasped, a mistake that my stomach paid for dearly. I'd been out for the whole week! I groaned and leaned on my elbows. I forced myself to look at James and willed him to look me in the eyes. "I'm sorry." I said suddenly. "I think I need to explain." James smiled at me. "It's-"  
  
"Not alright at all." I finished for him. "Derik met me in the corridor when I came down to breakfast that morning." I whispered so that the others wouldn't hear. They took the hint and started their own conversations.  
  
"He put a curse on me, to make me believe whatever he wanted me to and do whatever he wanted me to." James took my hand underneath the table. "The Imperial Curse?" he asked with wide eyes. "That's not legal." I nodded agreement. I knew James wouldn't tell. No matter how much he did hate Derik, I knew he didn't want to see him expelled either, not just yet anyway.  
  
"I'm sorry I was such a jerk." I said. "He made me think that.that you were." I stopped there, refusing to reveal my horrible secret. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault" James said, in his typical forgiving nature that I loved him for. WAIT UP! Did I just say I loved him for it?  
  
Sure I love James, as a best friend and I do kind of have a crush on him but REAL love? Did I mean that?  
  
When I woke the next morning, I felt extremely happy. For what reason I don't know. Oh wait! Yes I do! James and I had stayed up long after everyone else had gone to sleep, just talking. Something.happened. Not exactly physically, but. we seemed to have. grown closer if possible.  
  
This time I was sure. I'm falling for my best friend and I've made up my mind. Today I would ask him out. I showered and dressed quickly, for today, there was a Hogsmeade trip (we've never had one so early in the year before!) and I wanted to ask James before everyone started congregating in the Common Room or the Great Hall.  
  
Nervous, I pulled on my shoes and walked down into the common room with Alex, Danielle and Nicola. Tracie and Donna were already down unfortunately.  
  
I watched Tracie stand behind the chair James was sitting in and ease her arms around his neck. "You two just make the cutest couple." Donna cooed, standing in front of James. James smiled and said something that made Tracie smile broadly and she bent down to whisper in James' ear. Then she stood straight and left the common room.  
  
"You guys go on." I said. "I have to ask James something okay." I waited until Alex, Danielle and Nicola were out of the portrait whole before I walked over to James. "James I." I stopped to think how best to word this but he cut me off. "Lils can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Wait James I need to ask you th-."  
  
"It's important I swear."  
  
"Alright then."  
  
"See. I like this girl and I think she might like me, how can I ask her to be my girlfriend without asking her on a date first?" I felt my heart drop when he said this. He likes Tracie! I should have known he didn't like me that way. That's why we're best friends not a couple. Well at least he stopped me before I embarrassed myself! I looked James in the eye as somberly as possible and said. "Just ask her right out 'Will you be my girlfriend' or something like that." Crappy advice but hey, what did you expect from somebody who just got her heart stepped on.  
  
"Thank you!" He happily ran off towards the dormitories. "I have to get something can you we wait for me?" and he kept going without an answer. Sadly, I plopped down in an armchair and put my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my palms, closing my eyes.  
  
He's this happy to ask Tracie out? I should have known, I mean, look at her! She's a supermodel and I'm and idiot who's probably got a broken heart now. I almost started crying right then but I felt James shake my knee gently.  
  
I looked up into his excited face and my heart shuddered. "Are you okay?" James asked, his excitement faltering a bit. "Uh-huh." I lied. Big lie! "Just tired."  
  
"Oh okay!" James said his excitement returning again. "I have to ask you one more thing." I sighed inwardly. What? Does he want to know how to propose to her now? "What is it?" I said out loud. I don't think my poor heart can take much more.  
  
James smiled and grabbed my hands. "Will you be my girlfriend?"  
  
A/N: I'm so proud of this chapter! Should I keep writing in Lily's POV? I rather like it this way? Review and let me know !!!! 


	7. Who's that guy?

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. So there! Try and sue me now! Mua hahahahahaha!  
  
Chapter 7: Who's that guy?  
  
LILY'S POV AGAIN: I gasped, totally shocked, and could only manage a nod. "You mean it?" James asked me. "Yes." I replied, smiling now. I couldn't believe it! Boy did I feel stupid for thinking James had ever liked Tracie. He pulled me to my feet and swung me around. I giggled softly as he put me down, something I had never done since I was little and Daddy used to play with me. "A bit excited aren't you?" I joked. "Any guy in my position right now would be." He replied, causing his new girlfriend to blush.  
  
I looked into his eyes and we both smiled. Slowly, James leant down and kissed me sweetly. I felt a warm strength rush all through my body. "Well what do we have here?" a very familiar voice interrupted. "Is it a new fashion to kiss your best friend?" Sirius joked. James looked him straight in the eyes and said. "Lily's not my best friend." I couldn't help giggling quietly at the shocked look on Sirius's face. Sirius gave me a look that plainly said: Did you tomboy Evans with guys for best friends just giggle? "Well, she's not just my best friend."  
  
"Oh really?" Sirius asked, clearly befuddled a bit. "No, she's my girlfriend."  
  
"Oh okay." It took Sirius a whole second to process this though. "What! You finally got a girlfriend! It's Lily?" Then he calmed down a bit. "About time!" I rolled my eyes and smiled. Padfoot really could be a bit slow at times. "Oh crap!" Sirius said suddenly. "I came up here to tell you that the carriages are going to leave in a bit."  
  
"What took you two so long?" Remus asked as we ran up behind them in the line for carriages. "Talking (pant) to Lils." James said, out of breath. "That wasn't what I saw." Sirius replied. I shot him a look as we climbed into the carriage. "Damn straight." James replied. "Do I even want to know?" Danielle asked skeptically.  
  
"Like you've never seen anybody kiss before." I muttered, smirking a bit and looking out of the window. "What?" Remus asked her with raised eyebrows. "So you're a couple now?" James and I both nodded. "About time!" They all said loudly. Students stared strangely at the group of kids laughing loudly as they got out of the carriage.  
  
Then they all shrugged and looked away upon seeing who it was. It was perfectly normal for them, or us I should say. After all it was the Marauders and their friends.  
  
"Enjoying your new status?" Sirius whispered as we all sat around a table in the Three Broomsticks. "Very much so." James whispered back. "Like having a boyfriend you actually like?" Alex whispered in my ear. "Of course." I whispered back. Not to mention that he actually likes me. I added mentally. "And the fact that he's totally hot is a definite bonus." Alex replied out of the side of her mouth.  
  
I grinned in reply but didn't trust myself to answer without giggling. I sipped my butter beer and quietly stared across the circular table out of the window. Suddenly, halfway to putting my glass on the table, my arm froze, in fact my whole body did.  
  
"What's the matter Lily?" Nicola asked, waving a hand in front of my face. Are you having staring contests with inanimate objects again?" she joked. This was not funny at all.  
  
Slowly, I shook my head. "Th-thought I saw.never mind." It can't be him! Not now, not when things in my life are looking up! We left money on the table and left the pub, going in the direction of Zonko's. "You alright?" James whispered, stopping as the others went inside the joke shop. I nodded and managed a smile as James wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "You're sure?" he asked. I swear; he is so sweet! I stood on my toes and kissed his temple. "I'm fine. C'mon."  
  
"Did you even come close to having fun today?" James asked, entwining his fingers with mine as we walked into the Great Hall for dinner. "Yeah, I had fun." I assured him. "Sorry I kind of zoned out on you though." James chuckled and sat down across from me at the table. "Don't even worry about that. I just wish you'd tell me what's bothering you though."  
  
I wanted to tell him but. it's so hard. And I can't do it here! Not now, with everyone here to openly listen. I made the mistake of telling someone once before and he threw it in my face. Not that I don't trust James! Don't get me wrong, I trust him with stuff Daddy doesn't even know. And I tell my dad stuff most kids would rather die than tell their parents. My Dad's cool like that  
  
Anyway, I shut my mouth and stared at my empty plate briefly before beginning to fill it. "It's nothing." I said quietly. HUGE lie. I hate lying, really I do.  
  
"How'd you guys get here before us?" Sirius asked, sitting next to me at the end of the table. "Their carriage was in front of ours." Alex said, sitting between Nicola and Danielle on my other side. Remus and Peter sat on either side of James. "Hey Lils?" Alex called. I sat there prodding what was on my plate with a fork and otherwise not moving. I obviously either didn't here her or didn't want to but did that stop her? NO! "Lily!" She called a bit louder. No response. "LILY!" I jumped and dropped my fork with a clang. Alex cocked her head to one side. "You alright?" I wiped my damp eyes on my sleeve and stood up. "I-uh, I'm going back to the tower."  
  
"Told you she was weird." I heard Tracie mutter to Donna as I passed them. But I didn't see Donna whisper a plan in her ear and the two slip out of Great Hall unnoticed.  
  
They made their way up to their dormitories, where I was curled up on my bed.  
  
("I'm going to check on her." James said standing and heading towards Gryffindor Tower) "Hey we saw you freak out in the Great Hall." Donna jeered, prodding me in me side. "Wake-y, Wake-y." She prodded again. "Maybe a little water will snap her out of it." Tracie suggested, grabbing a jug off a bedside table and dumping water on my face.  
  
She must not be very smart, because if I were myself right then, I would have gotten up and smacked the living stuff out of her skinny butt. (I don't swear but you can replace 'stuff' and 'butt' with the appropriate words)  
  
But I was busy being absolutely terrified and miserable so I still didn't move. "Oh come on Li-ly." Tracie cooed pushing me over. I hate it when they stretch my name out like I'm some kind of dim wit who's too stupid to recognize my own name.  
  
"Leave her alone!" a voice snapped from the door. They jumped as James walked into the girls' dormitory. "We were just trying to help her." Tracie insisted. "Uh-huh." James muttered disbelievingly. "Lily." He called softly, sitting next to me on the bed. "Lily, come on. Don't do this again. You're freaking me out. Get up, say something please." Tracie watched jealously as James fussed over me but I still wouldn't move.  
  
"I'll have to take you down to the hospital wing if you don't stop." He whispered. "I haven't gone again." I answered, finally but ever so quietly, rolling to face him. Let me explain:  
  
Last year, I spent the Christmas holidays at James' house. His parents went out to pick up some things and I had just arrived by floo powder to a house that was empty except for James.  
  
I had just gotten into a 'fight' with my Mum and I was so surprised at what she'd done to me that I'd gone catatonic. I don't have catatonia but it happened to me just that one time and ever since James had been worried that I'd have another episode one day.  
  
(I made him swear not to tell because then he'd tell my dad and he'd find out about what my mum does to me. James doesn't even know about that. No one does.)  
  
I let my eyes flicker briefly to Tracie and Donna but I ignored them. "I'm going downstairs as soon as I get up." I added. "Do you want me to stay with you?" James asked, his voice just above a whisper. See? Do you see why I fell for him? He's such a sweetheart! "If you want to." I answered.  
  
Tracie watched us talk quietly and I think she saw red. "James." She said suddenly. "Want to come play chess with me?" James waved her away. "Nah, you go on." He said as politely as he could. "I need to be here."  
  
I smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks." I said when the two girls left. "Don't worry about it. What are boyfriends and best friends for?" he leaned down and kissed me before sitting back up.  
  
"Do you want to go down to the common room or do you want me to just leave you up here?" I sighed. "I don't want you to leave but I don't feel like walking downstairs. "No problem."  
  
James deftly lifted me in his arms and headed for the door. "Put me down." I said wriggling. James made no move to set me on my feet. "If you don't stop squirming you'll fall down the stairs." He told me. I stopped moving but still protested. Everyone in the common room heard me go "James Potter put me down right now!"  
  
Sirius laughed as he watched his friend carry me down from my room and sit down with me in his lap. "You are going to get it Potter." I threatened quietly. "I didn't do anything." He said innocently. "All better?" Nicola joked, looking up from her chess game with Remus. "Yup." I replied, sliding out of James' lap and stretching out with my head on his knee. Why does she do this to me? Bring up this stuff when I get in a good mood again? Sometimes I think Nicola does it on purpose! But she's truly a nice person and I can't think of her that way. "All better." I replied.  
  
"Hey," Remus said. "Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow? Is the whole team holding them or what?" Sirius gave an excited whoop from his chair. "Yep." James answered. "We need another beater and a keeper. Plus we're voting for captain."  
  
"You're athletic Lily," Alex said. "Are you trying out this year?" I snorted lightly. "Um, how do I put this? No chance."  
  
"Why not?" Alex pressed. "You know why not."  
  
"Well tell me again." I sighed. Must I always explain myself? "Because," I said, "I'm no good at Quidditch." Alex shrugged. "How do you know if you've never played? You said you need a sport to play until summer right? So at least try out."  
  
"Quidditch won't help at all for what I do every summer. I need something like track." I replied. "What the hell is track?" Remus asked. "A muggle sport. You run mostly."  
  
"Uh-huh, and what are you doing where you need to run?" James asked. I looked up at him and sighed. "I'd kind of been trying to avoid that topic." I said. "Tell us anyway." Sirius demanded. "I'm going to Dance Camp, just like I've gone every summer since I was nine. Except this time I can stay for two whole months instead of two weeks. Which means I have to start getting in shape way earlier than usual."  
  
"I thought you've been visiting someone every summer all this time!" Alex said. I shrugged. "I didn't want anyone to know."  
  
"So why are you telling us now?" Nicola asked. I groaned as I thought about that. "Cause I'm slow."  
  
The next morning, I rose before the sun and changed into a sports bra and jogging pants. Then I did a few stretches before leaving the school.  
  
&&& THIRD PERSON VIEW:  
  
"MORNING GUYS!" Sirius yelled, jumping around the Marauders' dorm like the crazed maniac he is. "TRYOUTS TODAY!" he yelled happily. "We get to see who's on the team with us." James chuckled to himself as Remus and Peter each threw a pillow at Sirius and tried to go back to sleep. "Come on Padfoot." He said. "Let's go set up the Quidditch pitch."  
  
"Hiya guys!" Sirius greeted Alex, Nicola and Danielle, who were sitting on the couch. "A little excited aren't we?" Alex asked amusedly. "He's always like this during Quidditch season." James said. "Lils still sleep?"  
  
"Nah." Danielle said. "She was gone when we got up this morning."  
  
"Speak of the devil!" Nicola said as a damp and exhausted red head walked into the common room. "What the hell are you wearing?" LILY'S POV:  
  
"Running clothes." I said. "You've not seen people exercising dressed like this before?" Nicola shook her head. "Well we're going down to the pitch." James said, giving me a quick hug. "Oh god James I'm all sweaty." I whined. "So what." He responded, kissing me briefly before leaving with Sirius.  
  
I walked over to the couch and plopped down on the floor with my head on the couch. "I should not be this tired after running around the grounds a bit." I moaned. "Maybe it just takes some getting used to." Nikki suggested. Alex stood and dragged me to my feet. "You better get showered so we don't miss breakfast." She said.  
  
DOWNSTAIRS IN THE GREAT HALL:  
  
"What's with the stool?" Remus asked as we took our regular seats at Gryffindor table. "We're sorting a new student." A 4th year said quietly as McGonagall brought a blonde boy with steely blue eyes forward and placed the sorting hat on his head. "SLYTHERIN!" 


	8. The New Student

Disclaimer: I own the original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to JK.  
  
Chapter 8: The New Student  
  
"Did you see that new boy?" "I hear he's from Durmstrang." "He? It's a guy? Is he cute?" "Do you think he knows Dark Arts?"  
  
I rolled my eyes as I walked towards Arithmancy. Sirius wasn't with me because McGonagall was telling him off for a prank he pulled at breakfast. Brilliant if you ask me. Anyway, don't these idiots have anything better to do than to gossip about someone who's been here barely 24 hours? Apparently not.  
  
I took my normal seat as the new boy stood at the front so the professor could find him somewhere to sit. "Good Morning class." Fergal greeted, his usual cheery self. "We have a new student, erm. Miss Evans? I would like you to work with him today please. Bring him up to speed on today's assignment, you may go sit in the back."  
  
I grabbed my bag and headed to the empty seats in the back. Hopefully this kid isn't weird. "Morning." The boy whispered as Fergal began class. I only nodded in response. No way was I getting in trouble because some people can't shut their yaps.  
  
"What? Already don't like me because I'm a Slytherin?" The boy asked as I copied down the assignment. "I was trying to find out what we have to do." I answered as politely as possible. "Okay, we have to use-" I began to explain but he interrupted.  
  
"Ax^2+Bx+C." he said. "I know." I narrowed my eyes at him. "If you know it then why am I 'helping you'?" I demanded.  
  
"I'm playing dumb so I can sit next to the hot-red-head." Better not let James hear you say that. "Aren't you subtle." I said sarcastically. We worked and finished our assignment quickly.  
  
"So Miss. Evans." The Slytherin said. "Lily," I corrected. "Lily then. What do I have to do to get you to go out with me on the next weekend we get off." I don't think I like this boy too much. He's on the cocky side, but then, so are most teenage boys.  
  
"First off." I said. "I don't even know your name Mr."  
  
"Malfoy. Lucious Malfoy."  
  
"Malfoy then. Second of all, I already have a boyfriend. Sorry." Malfoy only smiled at me. "Not for long if I can help it. Or we could just go anyway. He doesn't have to know."  
  
"Sorry." I repeated a bit rudely as the bell rang and students clambered out of the room. Malfoy pulled my chair out for me and then put it back in as I stood.  
  
"I could treat you far better than anyone else could." He carried on. "Especially the type of guy that you go out with."  
  
"And what type of guy would that be?" I asked, getting very cross. "Well you're pretty, meaning you've probably gone out with lot's of guys.  
  
And I bet nearly every one of them was a dumb as a pole just because you've only went out with them because they'd look good with you."  
  
I stopped walking. Now I was pissed. Yes, just because don't say bad words doesn't mean I can't think them. Even though I rarely do even that.  
  
"Malfoy. I am not shallow, so you were wrong about that theory altogether." I was about to blow up at him when a hand placed itself on my shoulder.  
  
"Hey Lils." Sirius said, totally unaware of the situation. " I would have walked you to class but McGonagall made me clean up the mess without magic."  
  
"So this is him then?" Malfoy asked disbelievingly, looking Sirius up and down. "No, this is my brother. I suggest you stop guessing about me Malfoy. You've not been right yet and if you keep coming at me like you're doing you might come across something dangerous." Now what made me say that, I don't know, but I stomped off and didn't wait for Sirius to follow.  
  
I guess you're wondering about the 'This is my brother' thing? Well the guys and me have been friends for ages so I consider Remus, Peter, and Sirius my brothers. We always have. Every time we meet someone we automatically introduce him or her as 'my brother' or 'my sister'. We're protective of each other like that anyways so why not?  
  
We had twenty minutes into the next class so Malfoy went off to find his slimy buddies. I planted my behind firmly in my seat and huffed. "Someone's mad." Sirius said, sitting in his seat in front of mine. "What's up?"  
  
Five minutes before the bell rang, the Slytherins and Peter all straddled into class, finding myself deeply in conversation with Sirius.  
  
And that was how James and the others found us when they arrived from Divination. I was still angry and Sirius was trying to calm me down.  
  
"What's your problem?" Donna sneered, passing me. She was only making the situation worse.  
  
I wish I had the guts to stand up and box her face in. Everyone knows I have a really short temper. "What's up?" Remus asked, sitting down next to Sirius as James sat behind him and next to me.  
  
I looked over to the side of the room where the Slytherins sat. Malfoy was directly in the middle of them. He smiled and winked at me. I felt sick to my stomach. Oh I was thinking VERY bad swear words just then.  
  
"Settle down now class." McGonagall said sternly as the bell finally rang. Ten minutes or so into class the headmaster himself interrupted. "Pardon. May I speak with you for a moment?"  
  
McGonagall shot the class a warning look and walked out into the hall with Dumbledore. I leaned my head on James' shoulder. "If I murder a few Slytherins would you snitch on me?" I asked. "Never." He said in all seriousness. "That's all I needed to know." I replied, smiling a bit.  
  
I was joking, but it's good to know these things. I picked up a balled up piece of parchment and threw it into the rubbish bin by McGonagall's desk.  
  
"Evans were you actually breaking rules and throwing something across the room?" Tracie asked from the back of the room. I sighed and put my head down on the desk.  
  
Why can't school be peaceful? Just for one day? I swear I'd be happy. Around me students took the professor's absence as a reason to talk and the room buzzed with chatter. "Miss Evans?" I looked up into the face of Dumbledore. The usual twinkle was missing from his eyes and his face was solemn.  
  
"Would you please get your things and follow me?" I stood obediently and gathered my things into my bag. Wand in hand, I followed the headmaster out of the room. I wonder what he wants me for.  
  
I hadn't done anything and my grades aren't slipping seeing how it's only the second week of term. We stopped at a stone gargoyle statue and Dumbledore muttered something I didn't quite catch. The statue moved aside and the wizened headmaster led me into his office.  
  
"Sit." He instructed. I sat. "I suppose you're wondering why you're here." He mused, walking around to his side of the desk and taking a seat. I nodded wordlessly.  
  
"It's about the results of that blood test Madame Pomfrey gave you a few days ago." I gulped. Oh boy. "Is. Is something wrong with me?"  
  
Dumbledore looked me in the eye. "It depends on how you look at it. I wouldn't say so. But there is something unusual we've uncovered about you. Have you ever noticed anything out of the ordinary about your magic? Anything at all?"  
  
I thought about this carefully. "Not until my 15th birthday. I got angry and a letter I was holding burst into flames." I blushed slightly. "Anything else?" Dumbledore pressed. "Nothing I recall." I added truthfully.  
  
"I'd not expected it was a lot. Your birthday was a few weeks ago was it not?" I nodded, getting more and more confused by the minute.  
  
"What are you talking about sir?" I said finally. "Ah, Miss. Evans. You have unusual powers. Little splurges of extraordinary power have been detected in the past two weeks and now I know that it's you."  
  
"So," I said carefully. "My magic is different from everyone else's?" Dumbledore nodded.  
  
"Very much so. You see, from the moment you turn 15, your power begins to show it's natural ability. The.splurges will become stronger and stronger until your 16th birthday, and then you will be able to use your power to its full advantage freely."  
  
"And why is that?" I asked. "Why does my magic do this when no one else's does?" Dumbledore paused to scratch his beard thoughtfully. "You're a mage."  
  
"A mage?" I repeated slowly. "I'm not so sure I understand." Dumbledore nodded patiently. "In the wizarding world, a mage is a very powerful, very rare, witch or wizard. There's only been one known in the past 7 centuries. I would tell you more about them but I want you to understand for yourself."  
  
I sat there dumbly, soaking in everything he had just said. "What's going to happen to me?" I asked quietly. It was the only question that popped into my head at that moment. "You'll discover soon." Was the answer I received.  
  
He slid a large volume towards me. I took the book carefully in my arms and breathed deeply. "No one may see its contents." The man warned. I had never seen him so serious in my life. I nodded solemnly and pressed the novel to my chest. "It is yours to keep as long as you protect it." I nodded again.  
  
"I want you to read over some of this right now, here in my office. If you have questions please don't be hesitant in asking." I nodded once more and he stood. You may go into this room here." He led me into an adjoining room that was empty except for a couch and a roaring fire.  
  
I sat on the couch and became oblivious to everything around me. I flipped through the pages and saw that it was a sort of history a magic book only about mages. Wondering, I read until I found a chapter marked Previous Mages.  
  
"Lunch time Miss. Evans." A voice interrupted me." I jumped to see Dumbledore standing in the doorway. "Did you find out a lot?" I nodded and stood. "From this and what you've told me. If mages have sudden ill turns and power splurges from 15-16, then I." I stopped and Dumbledore nodded.  
  
"There will be weak moments and you'll probably have frequent trips to the hospital wing." I know he was being perfectly straight forward, but now I was scared. "Miss. Evans?" He laid a bony hand on my shoulder. "You mustn't tell anyone of this."  
  
"Yes sir." I said, suddenly feeling queasy. "Oh and Miss. Evans?" I looked up at him. "If you have any more questions."  
  
I nodded and left, heading towards the Great Hall. How in the world am I going to keep anyone from seeing this book? I stopped in the corridor and put it in my bag between books and parchment.  
  
"Hey Lils!" Remus said as he, Sirius, Peter, James, Alex, Danielle, and Nicola took their seats around me. James put his arm around me as he sat on my right. I put my head on his shoulder and sighed.  
  
"What happened?" he asked me. I opened my mouth but Nicola opened hers first. "Nobody died did they?" I shook my head. "Are you in trouble?" Wrong again. I shook my head. "Well what happened?"  
  
" I'd tell you if I got the chance." I replied. I didn't mean to snap but this kind of thing got annoying. I saw Sirius smile into his napkin and cover it with a cough. "Nothing happened. I just. nothing happened." I'm a terrible liar.  
  
"Just nothing happens in the headmasters office for 5 hours." Nicola pressed. I bit the inside of my mouth and ignored her. 


	9. DerikAGAIN!

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters, Brackens, and the plot. Everything else belongs to JK.  
  
A/N: CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME HOW TO GET THE ITALICS AND THE BOLD TO WORK ON THIS FRIGGIN WEBSITE?  
  
Chapter 9: Derik Again  
  
Lily sighed, listening to Professor Sprout explain the importance of safety when dealing with Brackens, magical plants with a sharp spikes.  
  
According to her, the students were to removes the spikes, and remove the powder inside of them. The powder was used to in few potions. It was extremely hard to find and Professor Sprout had been lucky enough to find a few seeds to plant at Hogwarts.  
  
"Now," She said, strolling between the rows of students. "I advise you to be particularly careful while removing the spikes. The powder in them is not harmful but if too much of it too close to your nose may cause you to get dizzy or pass out. Also, you MUST NOT GET IT IN YOUR EYES Put on your aprons, goggles, and gloves and begin."  
  
As the class began working, Lily's head began to swim. "Miss. Evans, are you feeling dizzy?" Sprout asked as she swayed slightly in the dirt where she was kneeling beside a few of the plants.  
  
"I'm alright." She assured quietly, shaking her head to clear it. "You're sure?" Lily nodded. Herbology is one of her favorite classes and she didn't really want to leave it.  
  
"Alright over there?" James called from where he was working on a plant with Sirius. "Yup." Lily called back, grunting from the effort of wrenching a spike from the plant.  
  
By the time that class was over, she'd had done a fair deal of spikes, even though she was the only one who chose to work without a partner. As Lily removed her goggles, and dragon hide gloves to put them in her bag with her leather apron, a pair of arms snaked themselves around her middle.  
  
"Now who is that?" she asked playfully, fully expecting her boyfriend to be behind her. "You know me too well." The voice responded. She gasped and wrenched away from the boy's grasp. "Get away from me." She ordered Derik nastily. He actually looked surprised. Lily guessed he thought his spell still worked.  
  
She grabbed her school bag and stood, bumping into someone slightly. "Problem?" James asked, eying Derik warily. Lily turned to him and smiled. "Nope." She said cheerily. "I just have to speak to Professor Sprout. I'll be along in a moment."  
  
"Want me to wait for you?" James asked. Lily shook her head. "You don't have to. I'll be right on." James nodded and turned to leave with Sirius and the others. Derik watched her. "What-Do-You-Want?" She asked, giving the boy a hateful look. He said nothing so Lily left to find Professor Sprout.  
  
"Professor?" She asked quietly. Sprout looked up from a group of Brackens she was tending. "Yes Miss Evans?" She asked. "I was wondering if I'd missed very much in the week I was ill." Lily admitted, fiddling around a bit. "No only safety procedures and rules."  
  
"Alright. Thanks." Lily turned to leave. As she got closer to the door, a Hufflepuff approached her. Lily barely recognized her from her face being contorted in rage. "Why did you do that to him?" Georgia Wells asked. "Do what to who Georgia?" Lily asked.  
  
"Why did you cut Derik off at the knees like that? He was only trying to be nice to you?" Lily eyed her strangely. "You have no idea what he's done okay?" Lily told her.  
  
"You don't know him like I do then!" Georgia protested harshly. "Just because he isn't as popular as any of the Marauders, who I don't think you deserve to be friends with let alone date any of them, doesn't mean you have to treat him like dirt. You're stuck up and don't deserve to know people like Derik OR the Marauders."  
  
Lily's eyes went wide, providing the perfect opportunity for the peeved Hufflepuff to sling Bracken Powder into her face. Lily wiped frantically at her face and pushed past the girl.  
  
As she neared the castle, her eyes began to burn and her nose and throat grew tight. Coughing violently, she turned right instead of left and headed up to the hospital wing.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"Didn't you say Lily was only going to talk to Sprout?" Peter asked as Care of Magical Creatures class came to an end. James nodded. "Yeah. Maybe she'll be at dinner though."  
  
"Looking for Lily?" a girl asked as the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors left the clearing. Sirius nodded. " You know where she went?" The girl, Georgia Wells, giggled and nodded. "Check the Hospital Wing." And she walked off.  
  
"That was a little strange." Danielle said  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Lily opened her eyes wide as Madame Pomfrey flushed them again. Tilting her head back she let the clear liquid run sideways of her face as the Medi- witch walked off to see someone who had just walked in.  
  
Her vision was blurry and her voice was temporarily lost, side effects of having Bracken Powder thrown in the eyes and swallowed. "And what happened to you young lady?" An always amused, rarely serious, cynical and familiar voice asked.  
  
"Sirius?" Lily croaked hoarsely with some difficulty, yet never moving. "Yah. What's up with your voice and why, may I ask, are you staring at the ceiling?" he replied. "I'm not staring at the ceiling, I'm having my eyes rinsed." She corrected. "Well why are you having your eyes rinsed?" a different voice asked. Remus.  
  
"Miss Evans is denied the use of her voice as she's swallowed Bracken Powder." Madame Pomfrey informed. "Well that was smart." Sirius said sarcastically. "Even /I/ know not to swallow anything here that's not food."  
  
"I didn't swallow it on purpose you twit." Lily reported. "No speaking!" Pomfrey ordered. "She's had it thrown in her face, now if you're all done with your interrogation, I need to finish taking care of my patient. Sit up Miss. Evans."  
  
Lily straightened up and faced Madame Pomfrey. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Pomfrey demanded, waving her hand in front of Lily's face. "Three." Lily responded.  
  
"Read this out loud." She handed Lily a piece of parchment. Lily squinted and focused but she could make head, nor tail of it. "I can't read it at all." She admitted.  
  
"Alright then. I think the powder may have damaged something in your eyes. Whether temporarily or permanently I don't know. No ones actually gotten the powder in their eyes before so I can't tell you. Until things are clearer though, you'll have to get glasses."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. "Figures. Can I go please?" With the consent and warning from Madame Pomfrey, Lily headed towards the Gryffindor Tower. "I'm skipping dinner." She told everyone scratchily. "I don't feel much like eating."  
  
"Can I talk to you for a bit then?" James asked. Lily nodded and headed off with James as the others left them for dinner. "It's been a while since we talked like we used to." Lily said, breaking the awkward silence.  
  
"I kinda noticed that." James said. "Things just started off bad this year I reckon." Lily felt guilty and hurt all at once. "It'll get better." She promised, more to herself than to James. "Doesn't it always?" James smiled and took her hand in his.  
  
"Pickle Snout." Lily said to the fat lady. She nodded in greeting and swung forward on her hinges to admit them. "If somebody ever dared you to get a tattoo would you do it?" James asked. Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "James!" She said indignantly and shoved him onto a couch.  
  
"What do you take me for? You honestly think that I'd be dumb enough to do something so permanent just because someone dared me to?" James grinned up at her. "Would you do it?" Lily rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yah."  
  
"Seriously?" The fire crackled merrily in the common room, giving off a fair percentage of the light in the room. James looked at her, waiting for an answer, his brown eyes laughing. "I said yes didn't I?" Lily sat down on the couch and faced him, looking more relaxed than anyone had ever seen her since August.  
  
"I've wanted one for a while anyway. Probably get one right here on my ankle." She pulled back her sock to show James exactly where. "Wild thing aren't you?" James joked, running a hand through the unruly mess of hair on his head.  
  
"You of all people should know that seeing as you're my best friend." Lily replied, leaning backwards so that her back was on the arm of the couch. "Well that doesn't mean I'm a certified genius." James said. "Well I could have told you that darling." Lily joked. James tossed a pillow her way.  
  
"Girls are too hard to figure out." He decided out loud. "Hey!" Lily protested, having got her voice back and laughing in spite of herself. "Typical guy comment. Just because the whole lot of you are to dense to see what's in front of you doesn't mean we're hard to figure out."  
  
"Oh please!" James argued back. "You lot get all moody and get mad at us guys for some reason only known to females. Either that or you get all angry and clammed up and expect us to be all extra careful and walk on egg shells around you when we don't even know something's up."  
  
"Another sign of male stupidity and female superiority." Lily answered, sticking out her tongue for good measure. Her mature response was mirrored as James threw a pillow at her face.  
  
Lily threw herself at him, and he tickled her mercilessly in rebuke. "No, James don't!" she squealed, grabbing at his hands and trying to tear them away from her sides. "Say uncle." He demanded, smirking. "Fat chance in hell." She sputtered through her laughing. "Lily dearest was that a swear word?" James pretended to be scandalized.  
  
"No!" Lily screamed as he tickled her more. She jumped over the back of the couch but he only caught up to her and tickled her to the floor. "Yes it was! Say uncle!" he demanded again. "No way!" Lily shrieked, laughing.  
  
"You are /SO/ dead when I get up James Potter." Lily threatened as he finally lifted off of her. James stood and backed away, only to be tripped and lying on his back as his girlfriend sat herself across his stomach.  
  
"You wouldn't want to be all wet would you?" James threatened, pointing his wand at her. "You wouldn't." Lily decided, narrowing her eyes. "All I'd have to say is /aquata/ and you'd.be.all.oops." James stopped and laughed as water shot out from the tip of his wand and soaked her.  
  
"Dead man!" Lily shrieked and yanked his wand away from him. "Stuck now aren't you?" She observed with a manic glint close to Sirius' in her eyes. "Um, what are you doing?" James asked, as she fingered her wand, pinning his shoulders to the floor with her left forearm. "Trying to remember that spell highlighting spell Alex taught me." She admitted.  
  
"You wouldn't." James sound scandalized. "I didn't mean it, and besides, you look pretty all wet." Lily lowered her wand a bit and looked him in the eye. "Don't let him sweet talk his way out of it Lils."  
  
Lily turned to see Nicola, Danielle, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Alex (the one who'd spoken). Lily paid for the distraction when James flipped over and switched positions, sitting over her waist now. "1st rule of war: never get distracted from your opponent." He recited. "He had to learn that one the hard way!" Sirius put in.  
  
James started to reply when Lily began to laugh. "It wasn't that funny." He told her carefully. "What ARE you laughing at?" Lily waved her wand in his face and laughed harder. "You didn't!" he said slowly. Lily shrugged her shoulders and began to choke she was laughing so hard. "I hate you." He decided, pouting.  
  
"No you don't." Lily informed him. She leaned up and met his mouth with hers. James forgot about everyone watching, about his supposedly highlighted hair and about any and everything, save the girl he was currently kissing in the middle of the floor.  
  
Cat calls and whistles brought Lily back to her senses and she broke it off, flipping over so she sat astride her boyfriend once more. "I win." She declared. "How so?" He asked curiously. Lily leant down and kissed him again, long enough to make him dim witted for a moment. "Because I can do that and you can't." She whispered, close to his ear.  
  
James looked up at her, eyes slightly wide. "Fair enough."  
  
He grinned like an idiot as Lily stood and helped him to his feet.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"What'd she say to you?" Sirius demanded. James extinguished the torch and climbed into his bed. "Nothing." James said, smiling slightly and blushing at the memory.  
  
"Bullocks to that!" Sirius proclaimed. "You were grinning like the bloody Cheshire Cat!"  
  
"The what?" Peter called into the dark. "Character from a muggle story." Remus muttered, rolling over in his bed.  
  
"So DO tell." Sirius demanded. "Nope." James replied as a bolt of lightening tore across the sky. "Goodnight Padfoot."  
  
"G'night Prongs."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Just as Nicola extinguished the torch, a brilliant flash of lightening illuminated the room again. A surprised shriek came from many directions as a huge roll of thunder followed up.  
  
Lily rolled in her covers and pressed more tightly against the wall, grateful to have the bed adjacent to a wall.  
  
Half expecting to see a large figure swathed in black standing in the room the next time lightening would strike, Lily covered her head with the blanket and shut her eyes tight. Hearing shrieks from one of the girls' dorm below theirs, Lily hoped everything was all right and balled herself up tighter.  
  
Thunder rolled continuously, loud enough to deafen, and buckets of rain pelted the windows. Lily bit her bottom lip and gave a shudder that didn't stop and quickly turned into the shivers.  
  
Without warning, the door to their room creaked open and the girls all gasped. Lily took a shuddery breath and abandoned her pillow to sit up and bring her knees to her chest with her back in the corner and her duvet drawn around her tight enough to cut off circulation.  
  
Footsteps. Quiet footsteps tormented every girl awake as they rang off the walls. Lightening struck again and two tall figures were illuminated for a split second. Only Nicola and Danielle screamed as the other girls were sleeping and Lily didn't see them, being wrapped in a suffocating cocoon and all.  
  
The two figures laughed and one of them lit a candle. "Sirius, James YOU PRATS!" Nicola hissed. "Scared you did we?" Sirius asked, then he nudged James. "Which one of them is Lily you reckon?"  
  
"Probably one of the one's asleep over there." He pointed to the far side of the room. "Sleeps like a log that one does."  
  
"So let's wake her up." Sirius suggested evilly. "Who," James pointed to the bed in the corner. "Is the one shaking over there?"  
  
Danielle followed his finger with a concerned look. Nicola looked over and smirked. "I reckon your girlfriend's scared of storms." James nearly tripped as Sirius pushed him towards the corner. "Check on her then." He hissed.  
  
"Lily?" James called, attempting to get through the blanket to his girlfriend. "What are you doing in here?" she asked, her voice muffle by the blanket. "You're going to suffocate in there, come out."  
  
"No." She said stubbornly. "Why not?" James asked. "Because. I really, really don't like storms." She said so quietly that James had to strain to hear her. "Bad memories."  
  
"Li-Ly." He tried again. He shot Sirius a 'help' look. Padfoot only shrugged. "Alright then Chicken." James declared, tugging gently at the folds of the cocoon. "Come out of there."  
  
Finally he got the blanket unwrapped. "You okay?" Sirius asked, coming up behind James. Lily made a grunting noise as she slowly let go of her knees.  
  
Thunder and lightening. Lily flung herself forward and buried her face in James' shoulder. He had to laugh softly. "Shuddup it's not funny." She said into his shoulder. "No, it's not." He agreed. Lily looked up slowly.  
  
"Amused are you?" She asked Sirius. "Very, thanks." Sirius replied, smiling at her. "I hate you."  
  
"Everybody loves me." Sirius joked. "Especially you Lily dearest." Lily didn't hear any of this as she had buried her face in James' shoulder again. Then she started hyperventilating. "Calm down, will you?" James said, rubbing her back soothingly with one hand.  
  
The thunder and rain grew so much more violent that it threatened to burst a window. Sirius looked around and saw the other girls were now sleeping. James shot Sirius a worried look and glanced meaningfully at Lily.  
  
"Go to bed." She said suddenly. "We've got classes tomorrow."  
  
"You're sure?" Sirius asked slowly. Lily nodded. "Night Lils."  
  
"Night Padfoot." Silence as Sirius left the room. "You should go back too."  
  
"I'm not leaving you here by yourself if you're this bothered by the storm." James declared. "I'm not." She declared, putting her foot in her mouth when she jumped at another clap of thunder.  
  
"You're a bad liar." James told her, stroking her hair. "I know." Lily let go of his arm and crawled under her covers as calmly as possible.  
  
"So we'll talk." James said, breaking the silence between them. "About what?" Lily asked, moving back towards the wall. "What bad memories where you talking about? You know, when I asked you to come out of your blankets."  
  
Lily didn't say anything for so long James thought she might have fallen asleep. "Lily?"  
  
"I.Can't this wait for a bit?" She pleaded softly. "Until I'm more comfortable with it?" James nodded slowly and pushed her hair out of her face. "You're okay though right? I mean, after whatever it is happened?" Lily shook her head. "I don't really know."  
  
A/N: BREAKTHROUGH! A little longer and James might have found out about YOU KNOW WHAT. So close huh? Big thanks to everyone who reviewed! It makes my day! Truly. Oh yeah, and I tend to make my chapters longer, THIS ONE IS MY LONGEST SO FAR. 


	10. After The Storm

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot~  
  
CHAPTER 10:  
  
Lily woke up feeling a weird weight across her legs, sitting up and yawning, she saw James stretched out across the foot of her bed.  
  
She gently eased her legs off from under him and turned so that she was crawling towards him. "Wake up you." She whispered. James eyes fluttered open and he smiled  
  
"Fell asleep did I?" Lily laughed. "Yeah. We've got classes in a bit so you should probably go before they wake up." James grinned. "I do NOT want to stick around a room full of females first thing in the morning." He was gone in a moment.  
  
Lily smiled to herself and gathered her things to take a shower.  
  
&&&&&&AT BREAKFAST&&&&&&&&  
  
"Lily?" Lily turned and saw Bertha Jorkins, a fifth year Hufflepuff, standing behind her.  
  
"Yes Bertha?" Not very many people liked Jorkins. She was nosy and never kept her mouth shut. Everyone thinks that one day her mouth will get her in trouble. Such a gossip she is!  
  
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Having nothing better to do, Lily followed her to the corridor outside of the Great Hall.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were going out with /the/ James Potter?" She demanded.  
  
"I mean... I knew you were friends and everything but come on! This is pretty big Lily!" Lily rolled her eyes. 'Is that all she wanted? And since when did James' name have a /the/ in front of it? Am I really that blind of his popularity?'  
  
"I don't see how it's anybody's business but ours." She told Bertha. "I told you Lily! This is big, no huge! James Potters' first girlfriend, and no one knew!" 'They'll know now with the size of that mouth,' Lily thought.  
  
"So tell me Lily, we haven't had a girl talk in ages!"  
  
'When have we ever?'  
  
"What's it like?" the Hufflepuff sighed. "Bertha!" She protested, slightly peeved.  
  
Bertha studied her carefully. "You're stupid you know?" She said finally. "You're totally taking this for granted!" Lily rolled her eyes again and walked back to her seat.  
  
"What was that about?" Alex asked, watching Bertha spill her heart out to some of her dorm mates.  
  
"Girl's a complete moron." Was the muttered answer.  
  
"Hey, you okay Remus?" Danielle asked. Nicola's head shot up. 'Maybe she hasn't grown out of her crush on Remus since fourth year.' Peter noted, smiling to himself.  
  
"Just tired." Remus said, smiling warily.  
  
LILY'S POV:  
  
Over the next few days, more and more girls called me out about going out with James, Malfoy continuously tried to get me to go out with /him/, and Derik began to tell people that I was only dating James to make him jealous.  
  
On top of all that, my owl went missing and I had begun to have random weak periods where my knees just collapsed on me, or something equally wrong. Needless to say, my second week back at school went about as well as the first.  
  
As I walked to breakfast that Saturday, yet another member of James' fan club stopped me. "Do you even know how heart broken Derik is?" She asked. This one must be a Hufflepuff.  
  
"Not to mention how James will feel when he realizes what you've done." I rolled my eyes for the millionth time that week. "Sod off." I said, and walked into the Great Hall.  
  
I learned that if I ignore them rather than get into an argument defending myself, I avoid an audience /and/ I save time. "Morning." James said as I sat down next to him. "Hey guys." I said, kissing James briefly on his cheek.  
  
I swept my hair behind my ear as the owls with the morning post came in. A school owl dropped a soggy looking package on top of my plate and fluttered away.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Remus asked, still looking pale but better than he had when he returned from the hospital early that morning.  
  
I shrugged my shoulders. The bottom of the package was wet and a funny shade of red/brown and it was dripping dark red liquid.  
  
Slowly, I untied the brown string and pulled the box into my lap along with the empty plate so I wouldn't get whatever it was that was leaking on my clothes.  
  
I opened the box and peered inside. Gagging I quickly put the box back onto the table. "What's in the box?" James asked. I stood and backed away from the table.  
  
Sirius peeked into the box and his eyes flashed. "That's sick." He said quietly. "What's in the box?" Alex whispered. "Athena." My owl was a lifeless, bloody, battered mess in a gift-wrapped box on my breakfast plate. I fled the Great Hall and ran to the nearest toilet so I could throw up.  
  
"Lily?" James called. I jumped slightly, bent over the sink, rinsing out my mouth. "You shouldn't be in the girls lavatory." I reprimanded solemnly. "I was worried about you." He said. "Don't. There's no need to."  
  
I slumped to the floor next to the sink but James pulled me right up to my feet. "Dumbledore wants to see you." He said. "Come on." I let him lead me way up to the headmaster's office.  
  
When the meeting was over, (he wanted to know if I had any idea why someone might have killed my owl or who it was (I said no)) we walked together back to the common room.  
  
I started to keep going up to the dorm but James pulled me to him. "Sit with me?" he whispered in my ear.  
  
I nodded and we sat on one of the couches. James sat first and I curled into his side, with my legs across his lap and my head on his shoulder. He entwined his fingers on both hands with mine.  
  
The others were talking on the floor in front of us. Thankfully, everyone started a conversation and let me stay out of it. I listened in but mostly kept quiet.  
  
Peter left; muttering about meeting someone, so I watched Sirius and Alex as they kept shooting looks each other's way when they thought the other wasn't looking. How could I have missed that earlier?  
  
"Are you going to this masquerade ball thing we're supposed to be having before Christmas Holiday?" Sirius asked, directing his question mostly towards Alex.  
  
Alex twirled a turquoise lock of hair around her finger. "It's in another two months, how the hell should I know?" Oh they would be a cute couple. "Good point." Sirius replied, looking slightly hurt.  
  
I couldn't help smiling. "And what are you finding so funny?" Remus asked, looking up at me.  
  
I nodded down to where Sirius and Alex were now talking quietly amongst themselves. The others smiled. "Want to play chess?" Alex asked, sitting up. "Sure."  
  
"Ooh a game!" Danielle chanted, watching as two of her friends were starting a chess match. Remus, Nicola, James and I watched as well.  
  
"What's so funny?" Alex asked ten minutes later, moving a pawn as Sirius grinned. "It's going to wipe that cute little smile off your face when I beat you." He answered, moving one of his pawns.  
  
"Think my smile is cute do you?" Alex teased, moving one of her own pawns and taking Sirius'.  
  
"Adorable." Sirius joked back. "Whatever." She replied, but smiling down at the board all the same.  
  
James nudged Remus with his foot and smiled, motioning to Alex and Sirius with his eyes. 'I see' Remus mouthed back. "You two are such flirts." I said out loud. "Oh shut up." Alex said, never turning away from the game. Sirius couldn't hide the ear-to-ear grin spreading across his face.  
  
THIRD PERSON VIEW  
  
Over the next few days even /more/ people bothered Lily about her dating James. As days turned to weeks, it got to her so much that she had been ready to snap. Of course she was never bothered in the company of James or the other Marauders so everyone was, on the whole, clueless as to why she was in such foul moods.  
  
On Friday, the fourth week of school, Lily walked out of Ancient Runes by herself, being the only Gryffindor 5th year to be in the class full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. As class was dismissed ten minutes early, she waited outside the classroom a bit to straighten out her school bag.  
  
"You really ought to be ashamed." Lily whirled to see Georgia Wells standing behind her. She adjusted the new glasses she'd only got from Pomfrey ten minutes before and stared hard at the girl.  
  
"What do you want to throw at my face this time Wells?" She demanded. "Derik told me what you did." The girl replied, eyeing Lily with distaste. "Look," Lily snapped. "I am sick to death of you coming to me with all these snide remarks. Tell your boyfriend of he's got something to say he might as well act like he's got guts about the whole thing and tell me to my face."  
  
"How'd you know I'm dating Derik?"  
  
"It doesn't matter."  
  
"You're right it doesn't. I know why Derik broke up with you." Wells sneered. "Why /he/ broke up with /me/?" Lily repeated dumbstruck. "That's a lie if I ever heard one."  
  
"Yeah whatever." Wells retorted. "I only wanted to give you this. It's from Derik and I."  
  
Lily took the bag from Wells and eyed it warily before pulling something soft out of it. "A pillow?" She said, hoping to God it didn't mean what she thought it did.  
  
Wells grinned maliciously. "Yeah. We picked it out together, Derik and I. Since you seemed to enjoy spending so much time on your back when the two of you were dating." Lily's jaw dropped.  
  
Instead of replying she tossed the thing at Wells feet. "Keep your filthy lies and dirty gifts to yourselves thank you." She spat, moving to walk around her. Wells picked up the pillow and shoved at Lily's chest so hard, she fell back a few steps.  
  
"Keep it. Potter may find use for it." Lily shoved her back, igniting the brawl between the two. Wells slammed Lily into the wall, making her hit her head on a low wall sconce. Retaliating, Lily swung her fist out and hit her in the face.  
  
Looking stunned, Wells backed up a step before she launched herself at the Gryffindor and they were soon half wrestling, half boxing and shoving.  
  
"CUT IT OUT YOU TWO!" The girls were pried apart by a spell from McAllister's wand. (The Ancient Runes Prof.) "We'll settle this with your teachers." The witch said sternly. "What class do you have next?"  
  
"Transfiguration." Lily said, licking her bottom lip gently to see if it were bleeding. "And you?"  
  
"Free period." Wells answered smirking. "Well we'll let McGonagall deal with the both of you then." McAllister's comment wiped the smirk clear off Well's face as she grabbed both girl's by the arm and 'escorting' them to the Transfiguration classroom.  
  
"Sorry to interrupt." The raven-haired witch stuck her head into the classroom. "But I've got two students who were fighting in the corridor. One of them is in your house and the other's in Sprout's and has a free period."  
  
She shoved Wells lightly into the room first. "What Gryffindor were you fighting?" McGonagall asked, suspiciously looking around the room. "This one here." McAllister shoved Lily lightly into the room. "Well, Miss. Evans I'm surprised at you." McGonagall's comment caught the attention of everyone else that hadn't been listening already.  
  
Lily was to busy glaring at Wells to feel even the slightest bit guilty for pummeling her in the corridor. "Miss. Evans, if will so kindly stop giving Miss. Wells the Evil Eye, I will need to talk with her out in the hallway while I send Mr. Lupin for Madame Pomfrey. Take your seat."  
  
Remus stood and headed for the Hospital Wing, shooting Lily a questionable look as she passed him, taking her seat next to between Alex and James and behind Sirius. "How did you end up fighting with Wells?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Long story." Lily replied tartly. She lifted a hand to the side of her head, where blood made her hair stick to her face. "How'd that happen?" James asked, giving her a handkerchief to press to it. "Cracked my head on a candle holder."  
  
"Jeez Lily, did ya hit her with rocks?" Sirius wanted to know. "She's got a blackening eye, a busted lip, and bruises everywhere."  
  
"I tried to beat the living crap out of her!" Lily sneered. "In a fighting mood today are we Evans?" Traci sneered, poking her in the back. "Touch me again and we'll just have to find out." Lily replied maliciously. The class 'OOOH'ed.  
  
"Control yourself Miss. Evans." Madame Pomfrey warned, entering the room. "Come up here so I can tend your wounds." Lily slammed her bag down and sat in the chair I front of the room so Pomfrey could work on her head.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
After Pomfrey finished, McGonagall took Lily's "statement" and told her off for fighting. As part of their punishment, Wells was made to stay for the remainder of the class and 'learn' the duplicating charms AGAIN. Lily sighed in relief when the class was dismissed and she gathered her things.  
  
Lily heard her name called as she left the room with the Marauders, Alex, Danielle, and Nicola. "Evans!" She whirled around warily, only to come face to face with Georgia Wells again. "Haven't you done enough damage?" Alex questioned pointedly.  
  
"I only came to give you something you forgot." Wells responded, smiling at Lily and looking full of herself even with her black eye and busted lip. "I didn't forget anything." Lily snapped. "You forgot your gift!" Wells insisted, pulling out two pillows instead of one.  
  
"Here, I took the liberty of duplicating them in class. " She thrust them both at Lily. "Now your gifts match!" She said in an all too happy voice. Lily seethed and dropped the 'gifts' as if they were on fire. In a split second she'd punched Wells in her right eye with a resounding THUNK. "Now your eyes match!" she said in a high voice and, stepped over the girl before she stomped down the corridor.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Lily went to bed and woke up the next morning in a bad mood. When she came out of the shower, she'd only felt like it'd gotten worse. And as hard as she tried, she was just barely managing not to take her anger out on her dorm.  
  
"Well aren't we just peachy sweet this morning." Donna said sweetly, having rode Lily nearly to breaking point o many times that morning and the night before.  
  
"Don't start with me right now okay?" Lily pleaded tightly, removing her reading glasses and placing them on top of her Care of Magical Creatures book. Remus watched her carefully, wondering when she would stop trying to control her temper and just start yelling at the next person who cracked a joke on her.  
  
"Oh please." Donna retorted. "You act like getting one lousy detention is the end of the world."  
  
"Ugh, I AM SICK OF ALL OF YOU HARPING ON ME JUST BECAUSE I DON'T GO AROUNG BIT*HING AND MOANING LIKE THE REST OF YOU. NEWSFLASH OKAY?! I DON'T WALK AROUND COMPLAINING AND SPILLING OUT MY HEART SO THAT THE /WHOLE OF HOGWARTS/ CAN GOSSIP ABOUT ME! I AM NOT THE PRISSY PRINCESS THAT HALF OF YOU IDIOTS ARE MAKING ME OUT TO BE SO LAY OFF! CUZ YOU'RE PUSHING ME TOO FAR AND I PROMISE YOU IF I GO OFF THE EDGE, NO ONE'S GOING TO LIKE WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!!!!!! NOW IF YOU'RE ALL DONE POKING FUN AT ME I'LL EXCUSE MYSELF AND GO DOWN TO BREAKFAST!"  
  
With that very scary outburst from the peeved redhead, the 5th year Gryffindors headed down to the Great Hall. Most of the school had already settled down and were waiting for food to appear on the dishes.  
  
"Is it just me or does it look like every single girl in Hufflepuff looking over here?" Peter asked. Lily rolled her eyes. "Figures." She muttered darkly.  
  
Before much more conversation was offered, the plates on the tables were piled with food. Or rather, plates on the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff table were filled with food. The Gryffindor table was piled high with pillows.  
  
Lily slammed her eyes shut to try and catch her breath. "Jerks." Her voice cracked on her and she got up and quickly left the Great Hall. As she did, the pillows disappeared and the Hufflepuffs had a good laugh.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Lily ran as far and fast. Outside, when her legs could carry her no more, she collapsed into the trunk of a weeping willow and sobbed.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"What was that all about?" James asked angrily. He, Alex, Sirius, and Remus were all rather peeved as they stood out in the entrance hall, deciding what to do. "Calm down Potter." Derik Jones said, coming up behind them with Georgia Wells hanging off his arm. "How about you not getting your bloomers in a bunch." Wells added. "One weeping Gryffindor is enough.  
  
"How about you not getting a broken arm." Alex sneered. "One beating for you should have been enough."  
  
"Why don't you shut up?" Jones cut in, looming over her. "What're you gonna do?" Alex demanded, standing straighter and looking at him pointedly, as he was shorter than her. "Hit me?"  
  
"I might." Jones said, stepping closer to her. "You hit her and I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands or try my damndest." Sirius threatened, standing over both of them. "You take care of this, I'm going to find Lily." James said walking off.  
  
"Go on." Sirius urged. James headed out of the building instead of going back towards the tower. He had a feeling she was hiding out by one of the willow trees by the lake. She used to always hide there when she got upset in their first year.  
  
"Lily?" He called softly, spotting her red hair first. He sat down in the grass and pulled her to him, anguished when he saw her crying.  
  
"How'd you know I was out here?" She asked quietly, attempting to wipe the tears away from her face. "Because you used to always come out here when you were upset, Lily we need to talk." He said, not caring about jumping subjects.  
  
"You can't keep stuff bottled up. I know it's not just the prank. Tell me what's bothering you. About whatever bad memories you were talking about."  
  
"Everything?" Lily asked, looking at him with frightened eyes.  
  
"Everything." James repeated.  
  
"I don't know if I can." She admitted. "I'm scared to."  
  
"Why Lily?" James demanded. "Why are you so hesitant? You can tell me anything you know that."  
  
"Not this," She insisted, starting to cry again. "If you know you might not ever want to.I'm scared that I'll loose my best friend if I tell you."  
  
James brushed away her tears and pulled her into a one armed hug. "Nothing you can ever tell me will make me not like you anymore. I may like you more but never less." He insisted. "I promise."  
  
Lily bit her bottom lip. "Alright then." Taking a few calming breaths, she pushed herself into a seated position. Looking out onto the lake, she began her sad confession.  
  
A/N: I'm proud about this chapter! Yay for me! Thank you so much for reviewing! It boosts my spirit so much. I love you guys! (Not that way. Ew. J/k) 


	11. Confession Session

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to…other people.

 A/N: TO **Freebs: _Thank you SO much for letting me know! I needed that._**

****

**_Also:_ I want to make it clear that I had NO IDEA that the first chapter was so much like this book called _I Was a Teenage Fairy._ I based it off of a story my friend told me and I had no idea it was from a book! I read the book the other day and I was shocked! APOLOGIES.**

Chapter 11:Confession Session

              **A/N: Chapter title dedicated to JC****tigerwolf4e; who's review gave me the idea for this title, cuz I couldn't think of one!**

James stood and picked Lily up, hesitating only briefly to make sure she was tucked safely in his arms before he made his way towards the castle. 

He thought he'd certainly got what he asked for when Lily told him **_everything_**. About the perverse photographer, how Derik antagonized her with that information, her father not knowing about any of it, and then Malfoy, the Hufflepuff girls harassing her because of her dating James and supposedly hurting Derik, the nasty rumors Derik started about her, and discovering that she was a mage on top of it all.

She would stop to cry when the memories became to much for her and James would hold her, telling her that it was okay, that he would protect her always and that he wouldn't let anyone else hurt her ever again. 

When she'd finished her last tale, James merely allowed her to cry herself to sleep in his arms as he shared her hurt and tried to make some of it go away.

He ignored the strange and jealous looks he received from his peers, as he got closer to Gryffindor Tower. His mind reeled as he remembered how hurt and scared Lily seemed when she told him about Derik.

Just to think of anything so…wrong happening to Lily made his blood boil. He'd vowed right then to never let anything bad happen to her again as long as he could breathe. Though he was only 15, James was strongly suspecting that he was starting to seriously love Lily…More than anything.

Then he smiled to himself as he thought that she might love him too. She'd trusted him enough to tell him so much that no one else knew! And he'd told her so much in exchange! 

Lily was the one person he could really tell any and everything. The only thing she didn't know was not really his secret to tell. It was Moony's. She knew his deepest secrets and now…now he knew hers.

"Cornish Pixies." He said quietly to the Fat Lady. The elegant woman in the portrait smiled knowingly when she noticed Lily nestled deeply in James' arms but she said nothing as she swung forward to admit them.

"I can walk." A soft voice insisted, dragging him away from his thoughts. Without a word, James gently set Lily on her feet. She stared and blinked when she noticed that they were in the entrance of the common room. "Um, you go on." She spoke feebly. "I don't want to be around so many people just yet."

James looked into her eyes, taking notice that the usual gleam was absent. He tried hard not to give her a sad smile. It would only make her feel guilty if anything. "We can go walk around the lake if you like." The suggestion was so sincere that the titian haired girl felt guilty anyway. 

"I don't mean to put off any of your plans or anything." She admitted. "Go hang out with your friends."

"You were my best friend before my girlfriend, just as much as any of the guys." He was already leading her through the castle. Lily held tightly to his hand as they walked, remembering just how much she'd told him not so long ago.

"Something wrong?" He asked. Lily swallowed and shook her head. "No." Silence. No one said a word as they walked on and sat on a rock at the edge of the lake. "I won't pretend not to remember any of the things you told me." James said suddenly. 

Lily held her breath and a tear nearly escaped. "So are things going to change between us?" She asked him solemnly. "Of course not!" he assured. "I just don't know what you want me to do."

"I didn't tell you so you could do something about it." Lily told him. "That's not what I meant. Merlin, I'm trying not to get angry about all of this. Not angry at you, but at everyone else for causing you so much pain. I hate to see you hurt so much."

Silence again. "I don't think I can go through anymore of it. It's too much to handle and I-" Lily stopped her tirade to look up at James, her eyes were watery and her voice was breaking. "I don't want to be hurt anymore James."

James looked at her in awe before he hugged her close to him. "You won't be," He vowed. "As long as I'm around, I'll never let you get hurt again."

Lily felt as if a great load was lifted, but only partway off her shoulders. "You don't know how much you mean to me do you?" She asked rhetorically before she stood on her toes and kissed him on his cheek.

James put his chin atop her head and thought how perfectly she fit in his arms as they swayed gently. "Probably not nearly as much as you mean to me." He whispered into her hair. 

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

"You okay Alex?" Lily asked quietly when she entered the dormitory after lessons the next week. She'd calmed down since talking with James and locking herself away from everyone else afterwards, and nearly every incident was both magically and mentally locked away in a corner of her mind, hopefully never to be brought forward again.

 Alex was lying face down on her bed and she was shaking. "I'm great!" Alex revealed, turning over and smiling brightly. "I just had the best time with Sirius." 

Lily grinned. "So you spent all day with him?" Alex nodded and asked. "Are you okay though? You look sort of sad?"

Her friend sighed. "I'm okay. I'm just…_bored_. How well did things go with Sirius?"

A knock on the door interrupted them, and the devil himself, Sirius Black, walked sheepishly into the room. "Lily can I talk to Alex for a second?" Lily shot him her warmest smile and edged her way out of the room.

Downstairs, she sat on a windowsill and it was there that she composed some thoughts.

"Lily?" Lily looked up to see Sirius and Alex smiling at her. She raised her eyebrows questioningly to see the two holding hands. "Going out now I'm guessing?" Alex nodded in answer to her question. 

"I'm happy for you." She said, standing and giving them both a huge hug. "Aren't we happy all of a sudden?" Sirius jostled, sitting on a nearby chair and pulling Alex next to him.

"What do you mean –'_all of a sudden'_?" Lily asked, sitting back on the window ledge. "You've been kind of upset since school started." Alex supplied. Lily cocked her head to one side, looking thoughtful. "I don't even remember what that was about?" She replied.

Sirius shrugged and looked out of the window where the grounds were a deadened brown and green, preparing for the winter frost. "When Prongs gets out of Quidditch practice we'll have to prank the Slytherins." He said. "We haven't had a proper prank fest all year!"

Remus chuckled as he came down from the boys dormitories. "I was wondering when you'd get around to that."

"You mean when **WE'D** get around to that." Sirius corrected. "Must you drag me down with you for **EVERY** prank?" Remus demanded. "I do want to be prefect next year."

"Don't say such a thing!" said Sirius in horror. "A Marauder, be PREFECT? Moony, I'm ashamed at you for thinking such a thing! We have a record to uphold as mischief makers and you want to be PREFECT?" He made a disgusted noise and Lily laughed. "What's so bad about being prefect?" She wanted to know. 

"I wouldn't mind being prefect either." Now Sirius turned his horrified gaze upon her. "Great! Next thing you know Prongs will want to be one too!"

"Be what?" James asked, slouching over and flopping down on the floor in front of Lily. "Remus and Lily want to be prefects." Alex said, amused. "Good for the both of you then!" he said. 

"That had better be wariness from a grueling Quidditch practice talking!" Sirius growled. "What's so bad about being a prefect?" asked James. "Everything! We can't pull off ANY pranks next year if two of our best friends are going to be bloody guarding our every move!"

"We'll just have to keep from getting caught now won't we?" James supplied, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. Sirius started to argue but then changed his mind and settled back so that his back was against the chair.

Alex leaned onto his shoulder and sighed. "Are those two going out now?" Remus asked, stretching out on the sofa. "Yeah." Lily answered, getting herself comfortable next to the window and crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Fancy going to Hogsmeade with me Lils?" James asked, seeming suddenly awake. "Sure." She agreed. "When is it anyway?" 

"Next Friday." Sirius answered. "Hello all!" Nicola greeted brightly, approaching them as if he were walking on air. "Cheerful aren't we?" Remus questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Well yeah, considering all things."

Danielle said nothing, coming up behind her cousin and sitting on the couch next to Remus' feet. "So who's asked you out?" Lily joked, grinning at Nicola. "Is it that obvious?" Nicola asked, not keeping the happy sigh out of her voice.

"Do we know him?" Lily pressed, straightening her glasses. "He's the most amazing guy!" She didn't answer the question forthright. "Oh just tell them what you've done." Danielle snapped, in a cross mood. 

"Don't like him Danny?" Remus asked. "No one here does." Danielle answered, tugging vengefully at her long brown hair. Nicola sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's nobody's business!" She said, brushing her own dark hair behind her ears.

"Don't tell me it's that Snape character?" Lily said carefully. "Oh he's not a Slytherin." Danielle said, glaring at her cousin. "Will you just shut it already?" Nicola growled.

"Oh just tell us who it is." Alex said. "It's not like we have a right to judge who you date." Nicola shrugged and stared at the floor. "I'm going with Derik."

"Derik who?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. "Derik Jones." She answered quietly. Everyone either gasped or looked at Lily, waiting for her reply. Lily still sat in a laid back manner on the windowsill and looked as if the name was only slightly familiar to her and the information didn't bother her a bit. 

"I thought he was dating that Wells cow." She queried, twirling her wand as she'd been doing for the past half hour. "They broke up yesterday."

Lily shrugged and looked at her watch, nearly flinging her wand across the room and managing to shoot out gold sparks in the process. "Woops." She muttered, pocketing the instrument. "If you'll excuse me I was supposed to be meeting with the Headmaster about some things."

Standing she yawned and stretched. "See you guys." She stopped only to push the portrait open as she left Gryffindor Tower.


	12. The New Moon

A/N: THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR TELLING ME HOW TO GET THE **BOLD** AND _ITALICS_ TO WORK!

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to…other people.

            **"So you can do it? _Do_ say you'll do it?" The thin man nodded with a somber expression. "I have to pull a few strings but I don't see why I can't manage it."**

**            "Thank you so-."**

**            "However." He interrupted. "You'll have to do something for me."**

**            "I'll do anything darling." The woman vowed. "Just name your price."**

                                                              *

            "C'mon Lils!" James practically dragged her down the corridor and into the compartment. Lily smiled and gently reclaimed the use of her left hand.

            "Calm down, will you!" She requested, hiding excitement rivaling her boyfriend's. "We've still got hours before we even get to London."

            James forced himself to be still as he slid her closer to him. "I wish you were allowed to come and send the holiday with me and my parents." He admitted.

            Lily sighed. "So do I. But my mum says she wants me to spend the holiday with her in her new home. She just doesn't want me to have any fun. Dad probably would have let me go but he's gone on a cop convention."

            "Well that sucks." James revealed. Lily stretched out on her back, pointed her knees in the air and her head in his lap. "What's a cop convention?"

            "It's where a whole lot of policeman meet together and have meetings and crap." She answered. "That sucks." He repeated. "Sucks a lot." She agreed.

            "Ugh." Remus feigned a disgusted look as he walked into the compartment. "You've been going out for four months and you still act all…_ugh_."

            "Make it stop!" Sirius demanded, coming up behind him. "Grow up." James replied, absent-mindedly playing with Lily's ponytail. 

            "Anyways!" Peter interrupted, pushing past both of his friends. "I can't wait until Christmas rolls around." He grinned widely. 

            "You guys **gotta** write me ok?" Lily pleaded. "Of course Lily-kin!" Alex crowed, coming into the compartment and plopping down at her feet. "How else will I be able to rub how much fun we're having in your face?"

            "Cow." Lily muttered, and gave her a small kick. Alex grinned. "Moo." Another kick for Alex.

                                                                             *

            "Lily, honey!" Mrs. Potter hugged the Irish girl tightly. Lily gladly hugged the auburn haired woman back. "Hi Miss Sirena." She said happily.

            No sooner than Sirena Potter release her, did Tyler Potter pull her into a bone-crushing hug as his wife grabbed their son. "Hi Ty!" Lily squealed as Mr. Potter pulled her onto her feet again. "Lily dear! Look at you! You've grown!" Lily smiled. "I think you love her more than me!" James pretended to pout. "You should have known that a long time ago." His dad replied in kind, shoving him playfully.

            "Speaking of things that should have taken place long ago…" Sirena eyed the two teenagers. "When are you two going to stop being so stubborn and get over this 'just friends' nonsense?"

            Lily slid her finger along her forehead and pulled the hair behind her ear on one side, slanting James an odd look. "You didn't tell them?" Sirius asked, coming off the train, hand in hand with Alex; Remus behind them. 

"Oh yeah!" James exclaimed, as if he'd just remembered. "Mum, Dad, Lils is my girlfriend." Lily rolled her eyes when he slid an arm around her for good measure.

"Lillian!" Lily jumped and choked. Her mother was standing a few feet away from Mr. And Mrs. Potter. "Did I take too long? I'm sorry, I'm coming." She apologized quickly but her mother raised a hand to silence her.

"I've only come to tell you that you can go with your friends today." She turned to James's dad. "Is that all right?" Tyler nodded. "Of course."

"Before you go Lily, I'd like to talk to you." She all but dragged her daughter away onto an unoccupied platform, behind a barrier. She didn't let go of her arm, but squeezed it tightly. "You date that…that boy?" she hissed. "I thought I made it clear to you that you were **not** to involve yourself with those kind anymore than what's necessary."

Lily whimpered and tried to get away. "You're hurting me." She whispered so that her friends wouldn't hear. "I don't care. You'd better hope I'm in a better mood when you get home or you won't have a very nice holiday Lillian."

"My name is **_not_** Lillian." Lily said through gritted teeth, for what must have been the billionth time. Rose pulled her deeper into the shadows. "I don't care what your name **is**. You break up with that boy before you get too close to him."

            "No!" She nearly shouted. "Do it." 

            "No." 

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."

            "I don't care." Disgusted, Rose walked off without so much as a word. Lily glared after her before she walked back over to platform 9 ¾. Furious aand agitated, she barely remembered how they got to Potter Mansion, but the next thing she knew, she was standing in the entrance hall. Without a word, she followed Sirena up to she and Alex's room.

            "Earth to Lily." A hand waved in front of her face. "Wha?" she mumbled. "We're here." Alex said, bouncing down happily on one of the beds. "The boys are off blowing up something so we're on our own. Lily nodded. "I am **so** glad to be back." She admitted. "Kind of like a second home."

            The next week was a blast for her. But she dreaded the ever-approaching day when she'd have to leave and go spend Christmas with her mum. Christmas Eve snuck up on her and soon she was standing in one of her mother's guest rooms. Christmas, as was every experience with her mother, was horrifying. Much too late for her liking, it was finally time for her to return to school.

            James couldn't have been happier. Lily was acting more and more like or old fiery self, before the summer incident. By the time the train pulled into the station, it was as if she'd never changed.

            "Aren't we just chipper today?" Sirius asked as Lily walked down into the common room. "So, I'm in a good mood." She shrugged as she tied up her boots. The group would be ice-skating on the lake for the day. They decided it would be the perfect way to end the holiday. "Who knows how to skate properly?" Remus asked, taking a seat next to James. Alex, seated comfortably in Sirius' lap, said, "I can." 

            "Don't even answer James." Sirius intercepted. "You grew up on bloody ice skates. What about you Lils? Can you skate without embarrassing yourself?"

            "I think so." She replied, standing and grabbing a basket that rested near her feet. "Shall we?" 

                                                                                            *

            "How you doing Lils?" Sirius asked, a manic glint in his eye as they stepped out onto the ice. A couple of other students were already out there. Lily wobbled shakily on her skates. "Perfectly fine thanks." She was smiling. "Doesn't look like it to me." James observed. "Shut it you."

            She steadied herself quickly and stood strong for only a moment. "I've never been on ice skates in my life." She clarified. Remus grinned. "It shows." She made a face. "Here." James grabbed her arm as she nearly fell. Alex chuckled and started off around the lake with agility. 

            James grabbed Lily's other arm and started to pull her away from the shore. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no!" She protested. The others skated off to catch up with Alex. "What are you doing?"

            "I'm going to teach you how to skate." He stated. Then he laughed. "You look totally petrified!" Lily shrugged. "I won't let you fall, you know." He squeezed her hands for emphasis. "Now, it's easy." He skated backwards and pulled her along with him. "1-2-3. 1-2-3." Lily's footwork became steadier and steadier as she followed James around the lake.

            "You look rather pleased with yourself." She observed, watching his face now, instead of her feet. "Well, I get to have a gorgeous girl on my arm until she learns how to skate properly. Who wouldn't be?" Lily blushed and ducked her head. James grinned.

                                                                                          *

            Lily, James, Sirius, Alex, Remus, Peter, and Danielle all sat on logs in a huge circle, eating from the picnic basket Lily had brought down. There was an uncomfortable silence, and Danielle couldn't take it anymore. She was just about to start singing to herself when 

"Anyway." Sirius said passively. "You guys are coming to our Quidditch Match next Saturday right?" 

            "Of course." Alex said, looking thoughtful. "Nervous?"

"Never." James answered. "We practiced like mad for this season." Remus groaned. "All they've talked about lately is bloody quidditch this, quidditch that." Alex laughed.

            Peter and Danielle, and Remus looked like they were both only paying half attention. Nobody noticed. James and Sirius both had their arms draped across their girlfriends' shoulders, almost an automatic reflex by now. Lily looked at her watch and groaned. "We have to go to our meeting with McGonagall guys." She said. She, Alex, Sirius, Remus, and James all began to gather their things. They said bye to Peter and Danielle and headed up to the castle.

            "Any idea why she wanted to see us all together?" Remus asked. "None at all." Sirius answered.

                                                                                      *

            "Come in Children." McGonagall's voice floated through the door. Alex pushed the door open and she led the group into the office. There were five chairs stretched out on the other side of the professor's desk. Each pupil took a seat. "First off," The deputy headmistress began. "I was wondering if any of you have any problems with considering jobs as aurors." No one said a word.

            "Alright then, being sorcerers, and sorceresses, that field of work would probably be best suited for the five of you." They looked at her with a confused expression on each of their faces. "I'm sure the headmaster has told you already?" James, Sirius, Alex, and Remus shook their heads.

 "He told me that I was a Mage." Lily said quietly. McGonagall made a sour face. "I see. It was decided on the day of each of your births, that you were all to become Sorcerers and Sorceresses, more commonly known as Mages. There's an old prophecy that speaks of five children born into the same era with extraordinary powers. Powers beyond all others…"

                                                                                   *

            Sirius and Lily sat on their desks, with their feet in their chairs, waiting for the Arithmancy teacher and the rest of the class to join them. "I mean, how cool is this!?" Lily exclaimed.  "I thought it was just me, now there are **_5_** of us!" Sirius dropped his head on her shoulder and yawned. "Yup. The first ones in over **_2 centuries_**! **_And_** we're all best friends! It can't **get** any better."

            He and Lily slid off the tables when a tall thin man walked into the room. "Morning Professor Fergal." They said at once. "Good morning Miss. Evans, Mr. Black." Fergal replied, ever his cheery self. Lily smiled as she settled down into her seat. It actually felt like, despite previous occurrences, her life was setting itself right.

            The class settled itself down eventually, and set out on the hard task of copying the 73 complicated problems on the board. Sirius just started when Fergal called their attention. "We have a new Gryffindor student, fresh out of Beaxbotons." Every student looked up. The 5'11 boy stood at about the same height as the professor. He was dressed out of uniform, in blue jeans, boots and a sweater under his cloak.

            Lily had to admit he looked pretty cool. "This is Matthew Moon." 

            "Matt." The boy corrected, before he seated himself across from Sirius. (A/N: There are four desks in each group, set up in a square. 

Empty

Matt

Lily

Sirius

)

            Sirius stuck out his hand. "Sirius." He said simply. Matt nodded in greeting and shook his hand. "This is Lily."  Lily smiled politely. "So you came from Salem. That's in America right?" Matt nodded. "Yeah. It was." She let Sirius take over the conversation while she quickly copied down the rest of her problems.

            She and Sirius decided they liked Matt. He was pretty cool for an American. They asked him questions about the States while they led him to Transfiguration. Matt suddenly was looking at the most gorgeous girl he'd ever seen. He tapped Sirius on his shoulder. "Who is **_that_**?" Sirius grinned at the girl with black, honey-streaked hair. "That's my girl, Alex."

            Alex walked over and sat on Sirius' other side. "Hey you." Sirius gave her a small kiss on the lips. "Hi Sirius." Matthew watched the girl in awe. She looked…cool. Sirius didn't seem to notice the goo-goo eyes his new buddy was making at his girlfriend. 


	13. A Threat?

A/N: I know I haven't updated in like forever and I'm sorry! I've been so busy with High School that I've not even been on my computer in ages. Seriously, I'm suffering withdrawals! Well I hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot.

Chapter 13: A threat?

           "Morning." James grumbled as Lily sat down next to him. Her head dropped onto the wooden table with a sound 'clunk' in reply. "You look like you got about as much sleep as I did." He commented. Lil shrugged. "Had to finish my sums. You?" James cast an uneasy glance at the full moon, still visible in the daylight, through one of the great hall windows. "Couldn't manage to fall asleep until dawn." He decided to cover the other boys' butts as well. "Neither of us could as a matter of fact, so we walked around the castle for a while."

           "Where's Remus?" Lily looked up only briefly, before she plopped her head back down onto the table. "He went to the hospital wing. Wasn't feeling quite right last night and I guess Pomfrey kept him a bit late."

           "He'll be alright." James added, seeing the look on her face. "Always is." He wanted to smile. This was just like her, always worried about the slightest little thing when it came to the safety of others. Tomboy as she was, he remembered her looking like she'd wanted to cry buckets in when he'd broken his arm in their 4th year. Every time he reminder her, she got cross with him. Though she'd never cried, that was a pretty close call and she'd hated for anyone to think she was a crybaby. "Yeah I know." She said simply. 

           At that point, Mr. Moon made his entrance and sat down right next to Alex, sandwiching her rather closely between he and Sirius. Alex scooted away from him, nearly climbing into Sirius' lap in an effort to get Matthew out of her comfort range. Lily sighed, barely audibly. She had a feeling this American boy was going to cause even more problems than he already had. He was becoming a threat.

           James looked across the table and narrowed his eyes. "Do you think you could scoot over a little bit?" Alex asked. "I'm rather squished." Matthew scooted over barely an inch. "Sorry." Sirius slid in the opposite direction, pulling Alex right along with him, his arm tight around her waist. In the month or so that Matthew had been a student at Hogwarts so far, it had taken Sirius a half an hour into their third class on that first day to realize that the boy had eyes on his girl. When he did, he got immediately territorial. 

           Wherever Alex went he went, if just to keep Moon away. If Matthew had noticed his attempts were being foiled, he gave no tip that he'd taken the hint. He'd drape an arm over Alex's shoulder whenever Sirius wasn't in sight, but she'd merely shrug it off and scoot away. He'd tried asking her about her family, tried to make small talk, but she'd given vague or no answers and left. He'd offered to walk her to classes or carry her books, or tease her and joke with her but she simply shot down his every attempt.

            What they didn't know was that Matthew was determined to have Alex for his girlfriend by Valentines Day. But he'd not counted on Alex being far more stubborn then the girls back home. She was adamant in staying with Sirius despite all the tricks he'd used. What normally would have girls throwing themselves at his feet back in Salem got him zilch here. But now, now it was time to pull out the big guns, so to speak.

           February snuck on them and Valentines Day was quickly approaching them. Every couple in sight was making plans for their trip to Hogsmeade. The walls of corridors were lined in pink and red laced hearts, enough to make the Slytherins sick. Lily woke up earlier than usual on the special day. They'd had the day off from classes and she'd gone down into the common room to think.

           She'd been down their for a good hour or two thinking, when people, fully infected with love-on-the-brain, as Sirius had named it in their third year, began traipsing down the stairs.

           Should she tell him? Sure she wanted him to know but there was a good chance he'd go running as fast as possible in the opposite direction. She knew him well enough to know that it very well could happen and she didn't want to risk it. But on the other hand, what if he'd been feeling the same way? What if-

           Her thoughts broke off when she caught a faint sweet odor directly beneath her nose. She opened her eyes as a bouquet of two-dozen white long stemmed roses was placed gallantly in her arms. She gasped and looked up into her boyfriend's smiling face. "Oh, James they're gorgeous." She breathed in their scent and then leaned over to kiss him softly. "Thank-you." She added when they broke apart.

           James stood, having been kneeling, and pulled her to her feet. He sat in her chair with her in his lap. He leaned forward briefly to kiss her right cheek before leaning back and pulling her with him. She leaned into his chest and he whispered, "You're welcome." He wrapped his arms securely around her waist and she entwined her fingers with his. He brought one arm forward to place a feather light kiss across her knuckles before replacing it around her waist. 

           "I've got something else for you."  He held a flat, square, white, hinged box with a pink ribbon tied around it. "James you didn't have to-"

           "Just open it." He whispered in her ear. She settled backward and tugged at the end of the bow to set it free. James rested his chin on her shoulder and not only heard, but felt her gasp as she lifted the lid. The inside was lined in pink satin and on the pillow, rested a golden heart-shaped locket, bordered in one long sparkling diamond all the way around, with her name engraved on the front in elegant font, more diamonds embedded in the lettering. Lily lifted the delicate chain and held the charm in the flat of her palm in the other hand.

           "I don't know what to say." She breathed. "Do you like it?" He asked her. "I love it. Thank you." She leaned forward to kiss him again. "Put it on for me?" Lily lifted her hair out of the way when James took the necklace from her. Carefully, he opened the tiny clasp. "You just **_have_** to make the rest of us guys look bad don't you?" Sirius interrupted, coming down the stairs. James swore and nearly let the thing slip from his grasp. He glared at Padfoot, between making sure that the chain was fastened securely around its new owner's neck.

             
           "You don't need my help in that department." He growled out. Sirius pulled a face. "Gee thanks." James shrugged and stood, still holding Lil in his arms. He set her down gently on her feet and she grasped his hand with her smaller one. "Come on, let's go down to breakfast."

           If Lily and James thought they were bad, it was nothing compared to how the rest of the school was dealing with Love-On-The-Brain. All over the great hall, coupled were acting bad enough to make the worst romantic want to toss up their breakfast. Lily and James were walking in hand-in-hand. They made their way over to the Gryffindor table, where their friends were sitting. 

           Sirius wrapped both his arm around Alex as he sat down. "Happy Valentines Day." He whispered. Alex smiled and took his hand in hers. "Happy Valentines Day." They piled into carriages Sirius, Alex, Peter, and his date all together in one carriage. Lily, James, Remus, his date, Danielle, and her date were all in another.

           Lily and James sat very quietly in one corner, trying to figure out what to say. The silence was extremely awkward and horribly uncomfortable. 

           The couples split apart as soon as they arrived into Hogsmeade. 

           Remus gulped. Sure he liked Cassandra somewhat, but he was starting to wonder exactly how well their date would go. She'd asked him to go with her so he simply said yes, if only not to be alone on Valentines Day, in the castle by himself. 

           The girl grabbed his hand boldly as they started off down the main road. "I'm glad you could come here with me." She said. "So am I…I think." He added under his breath. "So, uh, are you planning on going to the Three Broomstick?" Asked Michael Collins. He was a tall 6th year Gryffindor with brown hair and hazel eyes; Danielle's date for the day. Cassandra nodded, batting her eyes and looking like a bobble head doll. She was a tall, hourglass figured, classic blonde-hair blue-eyed beauty. She was also a 6th year and Remus' date for the day.

           "I was hoping to show Remus this quaint little café they just opened up first." She said, her voice a bit high and a little nerve grating. "Maybe we could all go." Danielle suggested. "A double date." As soon as she said the words, she'd regretted them. Michael agreed all to quickly for her liking and was received by a hasty nod from the leggy Cassandra, who looked about ready to freeze in her skirt.

           Michael started off, leaving Danielle off alone as he started a rather enthusiastic conversation. "What have I gotten myself into?" She murmured as she stepped inside the dimly lit dining area. Pink bubbly hearts floated around what resembled a coffee shop. Remus sighed, scooting Cassandra's chair out for her before she sat. "Thanks Robert." She said, waving a gaudily laden hand dismissively. "Remus." Danielle corrected.

           "That's what I said." Cassandra replied, waving her hand again, to entranced in her 'conversation' with Michael to even pretend like she cared. As Michael plopped down and scooted his chair closely to Cassandra, Remus pulled Danielle's chair out for her. "Thank-you Remus." She said quietly, smiling a bit. At least, **_he_** was a thoughtful date, even if not **_her_** date. Remus swept a small bow that the other two didn't catch. "You're welcome."

           "So Cassie," Michael leaned over. "Tell me about yourself?" Cassandra, or 'Cassie' leaned closer, bearing way too much of what lay beneath the ridiculously low neckline. "What do you want to know?" Danielle and Remus both leaned back in their chairs and sighed, too withdrawn to say anything to their dates. It was an hour before Danielle's timidity ebbed away. She made solid contact with Remus and jerked her head towards the door. Remus didn't even think twice about it. 

           He grabbed his cloak and stood instantly. He helped Danielle into her cloak and the two stood directly in front of their flirting 'dates'. "We're leaving." Remus said. "Have fun guys." Michael replied.  Twisting her jaw, Danielle scoffed at his audacity and turned and stomped out into the bright light. Tossing coins on the table, Remus left after her. 

           "Well that hurt." She said casually, squatting against a nearby wall. He sighed. "Well those two clearly deserve each other. No use getting upset over something so not worth it. What do you say we enjoy the remainder of this sad holiday?" He extended a hand to her. "Be my date?" Remus had no idea what possessed him to propose such a thing but Danielle accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

           She gasped, staring deep into his hazel eyes. Pulling her closer, Remus dared not break eye contact with her. He could pull back any time he wanted to, he told himself. But why on Earth would he want to do that? He saw her close her eyes. Leaning down, his mouth was only an inch or two away from hers when he shut his eyes. 

           Their lips met, softly, gently, inexperienced. Danielle let herself get led along as her hands slid around his neck. He pulled up after what seemed like both an eternity and a scant moment, their foreheads pressed gently together. "That was nice." She whispered, sliding a hand up shyly to touch his face. He smiled and leant down a second time. "It was." He said, right before their lips pressed together again.


	14. Valentines Day

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot.  
  
Chapter 14:  
  
Alex and Sirius walked together down the roads of Hogsmeade. They didn't talk, each too busy trying to think of something to say, to come up with some kind of way to express their feelings to one another.  
  
Lily and James waited until the group of students passed and then quickly went through the barrier into a muggle city somewhere in the Scotland area. Lily was right, yet again. "So this is where it leads." Whispered James, amazed.  
  
Merlin, but it was cold in this side of the barrier. Lily slipped her leather gloves out of her back pocket and put them on. Then she looked around, studying their surroundings.  
  
The tall buildings and brightly lit shops were unfamiliar to her. "Any idea where we are?" Asked James. Lily shook her head and gripped James' arm as passing people jostled her. "Try not to get separated." She advised. James nodded. "I have no intention of loosing you in this crowd. Shall we explore then?"  
  
Making sure they knew exactly where the barrier was, the two wound through the crowd of people, grateful that they'd worn jumpers instead of their school cloaks.  
  
They passed jewelry stores, ritzy clothing stores, sporting good stores and many others. James found himself amazed that Lily would stare at the gorgeous dresses in the fancy store windows. She would only slow for a second or so, just long enough to get a good look and then catch up again. Weird, he hadn't thought of her as being much interested in such clothing, but then again, he'd never gone shopping with her before.  
  
"You like that one?" He asked as she looked at a blue ballroom type dress. "It's alright I guess. If you like that sort of thing." James chuckled. "Come on. Let's go look over here."  
  
And so went Valentine's Day in Hogwarts. The students were allowed their day of respite, but now it was time to get back to work, for the OWLs and NEWTs were advancing dreadfully fast.  
  
Students took to snapping at, cursing, or hexing anyone who dared to bother them while they were studying. Especially Remus, Danielle, Alex, and Lily; all four being sticklers for grades. Lily more than ever, having missed a lot of lessons in the beginning part of the school year, having been.indisposed. But in a good note, Moon had backed off and was leaving Alex and the Marauders alone.  
  
And then all of a sudden, the tests were over and the students were clambering onto the train, some ready, and some not, to go home for the summer, or to start all new lives outside of Hogwarts. Peter's parents picked him up a day earlier and they were now on their way, if not already in, Paris; leaving the rest of the Marauders, Lily, Alex, Danielle, and Nicola to squeeze into a compartment together.  
  
Lily wasn't doing rather well off. She was worried about the summer. Her father was going away, leaving her either with a friend or at Rose's house for the summer. Rose had signed her up for dance, as usual, and then Dumbledore had set up training for she, Remus, Alex, Sirius, and James, which would be every day Mon-Fri, throughout the entire summer. And added on to the worries left over from last summer.Needless to say, she was a tiny bit stressed.  
  
"I guess I really haven't been talking to you guys much lately." Nicola said after ten minutes of stony silence in the compartment began to get to her. Alex and Danielle only shrugged. Neither of the boys cared to answer and Lily was looking moodily out of the window. "I was too busy hanging out with Derik I guess."  
  
"Please don't bring that git up in here." Sirius grunted, folding his arms over his chest and stretching his legs out; leaning back in an attempt to get a nap in. "Fine. Geez, I don't see what you guys have against my boyfriend; you could at least try to get along with him since you are my friends." Lily rolled her eyes at Nicola's reflection in the window.  
  
She leaned her forehead against the cool glass. "He's a total jerk if you haven't noticed." Danielle muttered, leaning into Remus' arm. "I've yet to see him act anyway but kind towards me." Nicola defended. Lily, suddenly jarred out of her tranquility, stood and reached for the shoulder bag with her clothing in it. "I'm going to change out of my uniform."  
  
Alex was up, quick as a flash. "Wait for me." Sirius waited until the both of them were well down the corridor. "I meant it when I asked you not to bring that git up." He said..  
  
Lily quietly began to change. Her shirt, a ribbed undershirt like boys wore, fit snugly, but she used a spell to shrink the waist of her baggy pants so they'd stay up. She pulled on a navy blue button down shirt and left the top half of the buttons undone. "Isn't that James' shirt?" Alex asked. Lily nodded; a small smile on her face. "I asked him to borrow it yesterday. Had to work for the darned thing too." Alex chuckled. "Do I even want to know?"  
  
"He made me sit and talk to him for an hour and a half before he gave it to me. Said he was using it as an excuse to talk with me because we haven't been able to spend much time together because of the OWLs."  
  
"Aw. Sweet" Alex cooed, brushing her hair back in the mirror of the small bathroom. She watched Lily smile to herself a moment more, off in La- La Land. Then Lily sighed and shoved her glasses on her face. "I suppose we should get back yeah?"  
  
"Oh you're wearing your glasses again." Danielle said as Lily and Alex walked into the compartment. Lily shrugged and took her seat between James and the window. She took to watching the passing countryside again. Nicola leaned back moodily, gazing at the redhead every now and then. "Hey Lils," Sirius said, "You alright?"  
  
Lily turned to him, a puzzled look on her face. "Err, yeah Padfoot. Fine." Nicola snorted. "But you look so depressed all huddled in your corner." She said, a sly half smile on her face. Lily turned her head only briefly towards her before she looked back towards the window. "Is there something about me that simply bugs you today?" She asked. Nicola shrugged at her reflection.  
  
"Not really. I just thought you were above petty jealousy."  
  
"Excuse me?" Lily's voice and expression were drenched with attitude. "You heard me." Nicola said. "Don't start!" Danielle tried to intervene. Too late, the match had been struck and the fire had caught. "Jealous? Please, I have enough on my plate without being jealous of you for any reason."  
  
"Oh, and a liar too."  
  
Lily's hand tightened and clenched. "Oh a liar?"  
  
"Yes a liar."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Can we not fight please?" Remus pleaded. Lily sent an apologetic look in his direction and turned back to the window. "That's right, back down again." Lily chose to ignore this.  
  
"What is your problem Nicola?" James hissed. She said nothing, but stood and left the compartment, taking all of her things with her. When the scarlet steam engine pulled into platform 9 ¾, Lily was unusually glassy eyed as she removed her things from the overhead space. Alex pulled her aside. "Are you okay?" Lily nodded. "You're sure? You look like you're about to cry." She nodded again, and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.  
  
Alex handed her a tissue. "Thanks." She said thickly. As soon as she wiped her eyes dry, the two made their way off the train. Sirius's mum was ther first to come. "Hi Mrs. Black!" Lily cheered up as soon as she spotted the woman. "H-Hello Lily d-dear." Mrs. Black, at 5'4 or so, stood a head shorter than her son and his friends. "Mum!" Sirius scooped the woman into a gigantic bear hug, lifting her off her feet.  
  
Adeline Black laughed, and swatted at his arm, brushing her brown hair out of her face. "Sirius, y-you put me down!" Sirius kissed her on the cheek and set her on her feet. "Hello b-boys." Remus and James each hugged the woman and kissed her on the cheek as well. "Hello Ms. Adeline." They greeted.  
  
Sirius pulled Alex to his side. "Mum, I want you to meet my girlfriend Alex. Alex this is my Mum." Alex reached out and shook Mrs. Black's hand. "Very n-nice to meet you." Adeline grinned, returning the shake heartily.  
  
A caramel skinned woman and another woman with long sandy colored hair walked up then. Ms. Tonya Larson, Alex's mother, was a good 5'7. Thin, with shiny black hair that she kept cropped short and curled. Remus was a spitting image of his mother. They had the same light hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair. Introductions, were remade among the parents and soon Sirena arrived to pick up James.  
  
As all of the mother's chatted with their children by their side, Lily glanced hopefully around the station, searching for any sign of someone coming to get her. No such luck. All she got was an old 'friend' coming to bug her. "Go away Jones." Lily growled, clutching an empty owl cage as the Hufflepuff walked up to her. She stood on her toes in an attempt to see around him.  
  
"Looking for your Mum?" Derik asked casually. "Go find your girlfriend and leave me alone."  
  
"That hurt Lily. I guess your Mum's not coming to get you huh? Didn't think she was. Probably didn't want to kill her model image by being seen with such a dirty little thing."  
  
"I said go away." Lily turned from him, starting to walk away from him, away from all the happy mothers. "Touched a nerve? Don't want to be reminded of how much of a whore you are?" Lily froze. "I did touch a nerve!" He said happily. Lily turned again, disgusted. Trust the one person she'd trusted with the truth to come back and throw it in her face when she was trying to forget it. Images floating around in her brain became too much for her.  
  
Forcefully, she threw the empty cage to the ground. CRASH! Nearly all conversations stopped and people turned to see a short girl in boys clothing with long red hair flee the train station.  
  
Lily had to get outside so she could breathe. She ran out of the entrance and sat down against the wall, knees drawn against her chest. Passersby slanted her funny looks, wondering why this child was making such a spectacle of herself by weeping against the train station.  
  
"Lily?" A deep male voice asked. Lily buried her face in her knees. "Haven't you done enough Derik? Go away." He shrugged, indifferent to her sobs. "Suit yourself."  
  
Lighter, more familiar clicking footsteps approached her then. "Lily? Merlin, child what's the matter with you???" Lily allowed Mrs. Potter to pull her to her feet and embrace her. She cried onto her shoulder, and Sirena patted her hair gently. "It's not fair!" She cried softly. "It's too much!"  
  
"It's alright." Sirena led her to the car, parked on the curb. She gently tried to sooth the girl as Tyler Potter stepped out of the driver's side. "Go get James and bring Lily's things as well." She instructed. "Is your mother coming to get you?" Lily seemed to cry harder and shook her head no. "Okay, okay."  
  
In a minute, James and his father came out, each carrying a trunk. James glanced worriedly at Lily as he loaded them into the boot of the car. Mrs. Potter motioned for him to get in without saying a word. "Are you a little better?" Sirena asked as the sobs lessened. Lily shook her head. James, watching through the window, could feel his heart clenching.  
  
"What on earth happened?" Tyler asked. James only shrugged. "I.I don't know." He scooted over to the other side of the long back seat as his mother opened the door. Lily slid in and closed the door, looking at her lap. She dared not look anywhere else and James wondered if she would concentrate on that one spot for the entire drive back to his house.  
  
She didn't. Her gaze drifted up to James only to find him staring intently at her. She smiled.sadly. James scooted a bit closer to her. "Are you okay?" Lily nodded. "I just let something Jones said get to me. Danielle invited everyone over to spend next weekend over," she added, changing the subject. "Are you going?"  
  
"I might." James shrugged. "Lily?" Mr. Potter called from the front seat. "Sir?"  
  
"Do you have your phone with you?"  
  
"In my pocket."  
  
"Phone your mother, will you? And find out what day or time she wants you home." Lily sighed and reluctantly dialed her mothers home number. No one answered. So she punched in her cell phone number. It rang only twice before anyone answered. "Hello?" The woman answered warmly. "Rose?"  
  
"Oh. You're home are you Lilian?" every bit of warmth dropped right away.  
  
"Yes ma'am. You were supposed to come and get me from the platform. What happened?"  
  
"You've got a ride don't you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"So don't worry about it."  
  
Lily sighed. "When do you want me to be home?"  
  
"You don't have to come home for the whole summer for all I care. But you're to be at dance rehearsal every morning at 8, am I understood?"  
  
"At 8? I've got-" Lily started to explain about her training but changed her mind. "Fine."  
  
"Good. Be home before dance tomorrow."  
  
"But you just said-."  
  
"Do you hear me Lilian?" Rose demanded harshly. "Before-dance- tomorrow."  
  
"Fine."  
  
Rose hung up. Lily stared at her phone before she snapped it shut. "I have to be home before I go to dance tomorrow." She muttered. "Don't you kids have to go to training tomorrow morning?" Lily nodded. "From 5 to 8, and then dance from 8 to 1. I've also got Gymnastics Monday and Tuesday from 4-7 and Vocal Day camp every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 4- 7."  
  
"And how does that mother of yours think you're going to accomplish all of that?" Sirena asked, turning around in her seat. "She doesn't care." Lily muttered. "But at least it's not as bad as going back to that studio."  
  
***  
  
Lily pushed the door to her mother's house open. Rose was sitting on the chair, sipping from a dainty glass with an umbrella in it. "I didn't expect you so early." She said. "I have training at 5:00." She said. "Be off then. I only want you home on the weekends. Until then, you're on your own." Lily stared at her, mouth slackened. "So where am I supposed to stay?"  
  
"You can still stay here if you like, you're my daughter. But you'll have to stay out of our way." She shrugged. "I'll stay up in the guestroom.Our?"  
  
"My Fiancée. You've met."  
  
"We have." Came the voice from the staircase. Lily gaped. "You. Uh. Rose I gotta go."  
  
"How'd it go?" Alex asked, handing Lily her tote. Lily shook her head slowly. "Fine." She muttered. "Let's just go Okay?"  
  
Alex grabbed her arm before she could walk away. "Are we going to go through what we went through last summer with you?" she asked. Lily studied her, watching her facial expression for a minute. "Honestly?" she said finally. "Yes." She pulled free of Alex's grip and began walking towards the corner, where the boys were waiting for them.  
  
"Morning girls. Something the matter?" Remus asked. "Not at all." Lily said; at the same time Alex said "Yes." Lily leaned up and gave each of the boys a peck on the cheek, finally resting her folded hands on James' shoulder. "Alex." She said under her breath. "What?" Alex said loudly, stepping forward. "I think we deserve to know if you're going to put us through this again."  
  
"Put you through?"  
  
"Yes, put us through. We did nothing but worry about you the whole time. "  
  
"Al-."  
  
"I felt like I couldn't enjoy my summer because I had to spend the entire length of it worrying about you."  
  
The comment, innocent as it was, hit hard. Lily bit off what she was about to say and swallowed hard. "Sorry I was such an obligation." She said. Hurt laced through her voice and her expression. "Lily, wait. I didn't-."  
  
Evans walked away, none too slowly. "Shoot." Alex kicked the street lamp. "Shoot, shoot, shoot."  
  
***  
  
"Miss Evans, you're a bit early."  
  
"I know professor." Lily didn't spare a glance at the headmaster as she entered the dingy warehouse. She wiped her face, under the pretense of studying their "training arena". There was nothing to study. She and the headmaster were standing in the middle of a large empty room, roughly the size of a Quidditch field. The walls were bare eggshell and the floor was covered in a blue practice mat.  
  
"Morning sir." She added. She walked to the closest wall, across from the entrance, and slid down against it. Her chest hurt, or more specifically, her heart ached. Alex had only confirmed what she'd been afraid of all along. They'd only been patient with her, stuck by her, stayed friends with her when she'd been so off, because they felt obligated too.  
  
She knew it all along. She knew that they'd only stuck with her out of habit, that she'd been annoying them with her running to them with her problems. Well no more. Of course she should have seen it all along. Every time she'd gone to someone with a problem it'd blown right up in her face, hadn't it? Well that's the last time. Darned if she would put her neck back on the chopping block.  
  
She felt that sharp pain in her chest again. It almost hurt enough to make her cry.almost. "Miss Evans, are you alright?" Lily nodded, putting her hand over her heart in an effort to stop the pain.  
  
'This is either true heartache or guilt.' She thought. 'And I  
deserve it for letting him force me to-  
  
"Lily?" Sirius, Remus, and James stood over her, looking down on her. It hurt her neck to look up but she refused to stand. They knelt. "What's the matter baby sister?" Padfoot asked, using his squeakiest voice. "Need a binky or a bottle? How about Mr. Piddles? I'll let you play with him." Lily cracked a smile. She'd forgotten about Mr. Piddles, Sirius' old stuffed puppy.  
  
"Ah there's a smile." He said in his normal voice. "Come on." He pulled her to her feet. "Dumbledore wants to talk to us now."  
  
A/N: I'm sorry for such a long wait. I had to concentrate on bringing my grades back up because they were falling behind. To make up for it I tried to make this chapter extra long. Thanx for your patience and support guys.  
  
* Clearbrook * 


	15. Rehearsals and a Triple Date

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling and several other…yeah whatever.

Chapter 15: Rehearsals and a Triple Date

            "Well that was a total waste of time."  Alex murmured as they left the old warehouse. The hours had gone by horrendously slow. Hours spent merely outlining future training sessions and discussing the rules. Lily refused to look at her as they stepped out into the back room. She didn't really want to be in Alex's company at present, but she'd been followed. 

            Lily changed out of her comfort clothing, and into a pair of jogging pants, made out of the annoying material that makes that swishing noise when you move. The shirt was easy, the girls were only allowed to wear white t-shirts. She left the room quickly and slipped the matching jacket on. Nobody said a word as they left the building, letting their eyes adjust to the new morning light.

            "Lily, can I talk to you?" Alex asked.

            "I have to go to dance."

            "Well I'll go with you, but it's really important that we talk." Lily shrugged indifferently and turned to the guys. "I guess I'll see you three later then."

            "No, we're coming along." Remus said. "Well come on."

                                                                                                            ***

            Slightly out of breath and nearly half an hour late, the green eyed girl burst into the dance hall. "You're late Miss. Evans." She nodded panting. "Sorry." 

            She sat in the auditorium seats, rows away from the rest of the girls. Becky Daniels, the dance instructor, was a slim, tall brown hair and eyed, tan skinned woman.  She stood, proudly, in front of the girls, ready, and demanding their full attention. 

            "I've already introduced myself and explained the rules, now I need to step out side to take care of something. You may socialize for a while." She walked across the stage and exited behind the curtain. 

            "Lily!" a girl, one of the only other three in the 3rd level advanced group, ran over to her and engulfed her in a huge hug. "Jeez I thought you would never get out of that boarding school!" Lily was all grins as she greeted her friend from the old school that she and James used to go to.

            "Say you didn't forget us back here did ya?" Melody asked. Melody was one of her favorite people in the world. Mr. Evans used to say they were a lot alike. They understood each other.  "No way!" Lily hugged her again. "Jeez it feels good to be back here."

            "What happened to I'll never dance again?" Mel asked. "Okay so I was mad at Rose, give me a break. You know I love to dance." Melody burst into laughter and hugged her again. "Dang, I missed you! So how's it going with that mother of yours? Got your summer all planned out again?"

            "Of course. And she's engaged, the cow."

            "I heard about that. To her agent, right? That photographer guy Clarks?" Lily nodded. "Unfortunately." She answered. Melody winced. "Tough luck, I hear he's a right prick. But enough about him. I haven't gotten a letter from you in a year! What's up with that?"

            Now it was Lily's turn to wince. "Sorry. Really, I am. I was so stressed I barely had time to do anything. I nearly went crazy I swear it. What?" Mel was looking over her shoulder. "Isn't that that one kid you used to ride to school with every day?"

            Lily looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, that's my boyfriend James." 

            "**_That's_** Potter? D*mn he's hot. Lucky cow." This made Lily laugh. "Oh so I'm a cow now?"

              
            "Oh, yeah." Mel joked. "Absolutely." Lily shook her head as she pulled her suit off, leaving her in cotton shorts and her t-shirt. "A little hot for all those layers isn't it?"

            "Nah. So what's been going on with you? ML143 still full of crap?"  (Their old school) "I don't go there Lil. I transferred schools the same year you did don't you remember?"

            "You never told me that."

            "Doesn't matter anyways. My Dads moving me schools again. Shipping me off to some all girl school in Scotland."

            "That sucks."

            "Yeah. I'll bet it does. At least I won't be a little fish though. Come on, stretch with me." She began to do a split right there in the aisle, and Lily soon followed. They didn't even notice Becky walk up to them until she asked, "And how are my two star dancers?"

            "Hi Becky." Lily greeted. "Did ya miss me?" Becky laughed. "Off course. Who else would I catch an attitude from?"

            "Lily? Attitude?" A voice repeated. "This I have yet to see." Lily grinned. "Becky, this is my bestest buddy, and my boyfriend James. James, this is my dance instructor Becky the Slave Driver."

            "Pleased to meet you Becky the Slave Driver." James shook her hand. "Nice to meet you to James, but now, I have some slaves to drive. Oh but first, Lily, Melody? As you Tonya and Amber are my highest ranking pupils here, you'll be partnered up with students from Marcos' Academy and doing individual numbers for the end of summer performance, and the competition as well."

            "We're not entering the competition in groups with everybody else?" Lily asked excitedly.  "We're entering with just one partner?" Melody asked next. Becky smiled. "No and yes. You're entering with the group and as partners. Which means you'll have to work twice as hard as the others. I trust you to get those trophies for partners because we've never had partners from this district enter before."

            "Oh, no pressure." Melody said sarcastically, but she and Lily were both grinning like the cat that ate the canary. But Becky turned to Lily. "I know you have the tendency to overwork yourself and I don't want you to push yourself understand?" Lily nodded, not listening. "Of course. Uh huh." Her mind was still on the dance competition.

            "You start working with your partners tomorrow, so be prepared to work."

            Dance practice seemed to fly by, and the others, Alex, Sirius, James, and Remus, didn't even seem bored while they watched on and talked amongst themselves. When they walked over, Lily was talking and laughing with Melody, Amber, and Tonya.

            "Okay guys, I'm going home. See you tomorrow okay?" She headed towards her friends, Followed by three voices yelling back "Bye Lily." 

            There was nothing that could break her good mood after that, she even forgot to be mad at Alex. She was having too much fun. Even after gymnastics, where she did nothing but flip all day, she was excited. Dead tired, but exhausted. 

            As the month went on, the excitement dimmed not a bit. James saw her less and less as his mother needed around the house, he was glad because he hadn't seen Lily so happy in a long time.

                        When Friday came, Lily packed her bag even heavier than usual. And after her last rehearsal, she went home (her real house that she lives in with her Dad), even though she wasn't supposed to because her father was still stationed in Paris and the house was empty, and showered and got ready.

            She dried her hair and struggled with it until it was up in a flawless ponytail. She pulled on a light dress of a blue so light it was close to white, with thin straps, and slipped into her simple, plain, white canvas sneakers. Just the right amount of gloss covered her lips and she was ready.

            She made sure all of her things were in her bag, grabbed her blue jean jacket, and walked over to James' house. He was waiting for her when Mrs. Potter let her in. "Hi Sirena." She hugged the woman. "How are you?"

            "Fine Sweetie, James is waiting for you in the living room. Tell me again why I'm trusting my babies to floo all the way to Hogsmeade?" She said after returning the hug, very protectively. 

            "Because we'll be right under Dumbledore's nose, and you trust us, and know that we're old enough not to do anything stupid, and because you love me to bits." Lily answered sweetly. 

            Sirena laughed. "Get out of here you little rascals." James greeted Lily, grabbed her bag, threw it on the shoulder opposite his, and threw floo powder into the fireplace and with a whoosh, was gone. "Call me when you get back to Danielle's house tonight." Sirena demanded. 

            "I promise." Lily said. "And don't worry, we'll be fine." She threw powder into the fireplace. "Call!" Sirena reminded her. Lily smiled and waved before the flames whisked her away. "Bye Mama." She called sweetly, and was gone.

            She was the last to arrive in Danielle's fireplace. The other couples were already there. "Now off to Hogsmeade." James said. And back into the fireplace they went after Lily left her bag with the others.

            "Tell me again why we decided to come all the way to Hogsmeade?" Remus asked. "And why the bloody hell are we walking in the shadows?"

            "Shh. Wait." Lily whispered. After the couple in front of them passed, she pushed Alex and Sirius through the brick wall. "Next?" James said and he pushed Remus and Danielle through. He and Lily followed last, watching their friends' faces amusedly.

            At 8pm, it was dark outside and all of the stores in the muggle village had their bright lights on. "Wow." Sirius whispered, looking around. 

            "Now aren't you glad we decided to triple date here?" Lily asked, satisfied at their nods. "Come on. We can go eat first."

            Seated inside the Chinese food restaurant, it was quite hilarious for the muggles of the group, Lily, Danielle, and Alex to watch the boys try and use chopsticks. Frustrated, they merely tossed them back to the table. 

            "Now explain to me, how we get to eat?" Sirius demanded. "Just grab a plate, and go over to that bar over there and fill it up as much as you want." Danielle answered. The group stood, leaving their jackets, if they had them, on their seats. 

                                                           ***

            "Your turn Danny." Alex said, using chopsticks to pop a piece of sweet and sour chicken into her mouth. Danielle thought. "Okay. Hmm. I pushed my cousin down the stairs cause she stole my teddy bear."

            James laughed. "Vicious. How long ago was this, three, four years?" Danielle blushed. "Yesterday." The table burst into laughter. "Okay Lillers." Danielle said. "What was the worst thing **_you've_** ever done?"

            Lily thought. "Hit Robbie in the back of the knees with a steel baseball bat when I was six."

            "Who's Robbie?" Remus asked. "My older brother."

            "Don't you have a sister too?"

            "Uh-huh: Petunia. Lucky me: the baby of the family." She said sarcastically. 

**A/N: And so in this chapter, we learn a bit about what Lily's really like when she's not stressed, or depressed. We also learn a bit about her past and more about her family.**


	16. Yet Another Trophy

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot.  
  
Chapter 16:  
  
Laughing still, the six teenagers walked around in the mall. On the second floor, they came past a picture studio. "Ooh. Let's have our pictures taken!" Danielle suggested, excited.  
  
She'd grabbed the others and forced them through the doors. "Come on. We can take one picture together and three separate ones for couples. Puh- lease?"  
  
***  
  
Lily put her wallet sized picture of the six of them in the front clear compartment where her ID was supposed to be. She liked it. It was cute. The girls were all kneeling behind a table covered in beige colored silk, resting their arms on it, with each of the boys behind them, leaning over their shoulder so that their heads were only a few inches above the girls' heads, against a matching beige background.  
  
She slid the separate pictures in behind them. The one of Sirius and Alex standing back to back, one of Remus and Danielle both leaning one arm each on an ornate stair railing, and the last one of Lily standing with James standing directly behind her his chin on her shoulder and his arms around her middle, her arms over his. Her favorite.  
  
Smiling, she put the wallet back into her jacket pocket and put her jacket on. It'd been off for the pictures.  
  
***  
  
"YOU WERE OUT WITH THEM?" Rose roared. Lily winced. Her weekend had been so good up until then. She hadn't meant for, or even known that the pictures had fallen out of her bag until Rose picked them up, caught sight of the date on the back and started hollering.  
  
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THOSE KIND!"  
  
"They're my friends!" Lily screamed back just before her common sense kicked in.  
  
***  
  
When the next week came, everyone was really put to work. Hard work. In training Lily and the others were meditating to try and grasp better control on their powers, but still hadn't learned to master it yet.  
  
In dance, Lily was working with her partner, Manuel, to find the perfect moves for the song they'd picked out. Then they'd run it by Becky and Manuel's instructor Angie, and perfect it in time for the performance.  
  
In Gymnastics she was learning to use the uneven bars and the balance beam, no easy feat. Plus get in shape for the fitness exam.  
  
And then in vocal camp, she was merely working with the younger children while going over her own part for the concert.  
  
Her days were so busy that she'd go home beat, lock her bedroom door, and sleep until morning, which often meant that sometimes she forgot to eat.  
  
On the weekend she'd call her dad, who was temporarily stationed in Paris (which is why she's staying with Rose) and would sometimes go out with her friends from both in and outside of school, or just relax with the gang somewhere.  
  
But time was speeding by, and soon, Sirius, and Remus' birthdays had already gone past. Given special 'circumstances' they were soon allowed to use their magic but only because they lived with magical families.  
  
Which was all the better because, according to Mack, their trainer, their magic would be fully unlocked once they reached 16 and would then posses two kinds of magic. Ordinary magic, and sorcery. Sorcery, which was, technically, dangerous, if not controlled, to the sorcerer and everyone within range of him or her.  
  
And suddenly their training went into overdrive. Sometimes, during the (now routine) meditating before training, and before bed, Sirius', or Remus' magic would leak out and try to touch Alex's, or Lily's or James' magic and pull it forth before it was ready, which, technically, was, yes, dangerous.  
  
On the day before Alex's birthday, her magic seemed to be going wild. It was restless. And on her birthday, it calmed. She was free to do magic.  
  
Now James was growing impatient. It was a whole other week until his own birthday. "No fair." He would whine whenever he thought about it. Finally his birthday came, as did Lily's a week and a half after that.  
  
Mack had claimed the training they were getting now would be nothing. It was about to be turned up 5 notches. They were to be trained physically as well, which meant that they were to start learning all methods of fighting possible.  
  
This was not something Alex wanted to hear. She was worried about Lily. She would come to training utterly exhausted enough as it was. Not to mention that her dance and gymnastic classes were intensifying because regionals were in less than two weeks.  
  
"I'm fine." She would say, half asleep after rehearsals. The boys no longer stayed with her at every single practice anymore. They were taking the time to do the homework from school and the homework from Mack. They took individual shifts accompanying her, hoping to be all finished up by the time Lily's performances rolled around so that they could have the last two weeks of vacation to relax.  
  
Lily didn't seem to be coping with everything as time went on, she wouldn't even sit down and relax after she'd collapsed at gymnastics, nearly hitting her head on the balance beam as she fell off of it.  
  
Even Becky was noticing something was up and pulled her aside from rehearsal one day to tell her to take it easy, in fact, take the week of for all her hard work and effort. She flatly refused. She told Becky that if Rose found out she hadn't gone to practice in a week she'd freak.  
  
"You're taking that week off." James insisted as they began the long walk to his house. The same walk that they'd made almost everyday, for Lily would rest and talk to Sirena before she'd head out to gymnastics.  
  
"I won't." Lily said firmly. "Contest is too close to take a whole week off." But James stood solid, immovable as a deeply rooted oak. "No. I'm telling Mum and she'll make you stay."  
  
"I don't believe you! You're telling your mother on me??" James shrugged, not really caring that she was annoyed. "Whatever works. She'll take my side, you know she will." Lil sighed and shook her head. "I'm too tired to argue." She replied, half heartedly.  
  
"Good. Your mother doesn't even have to know you're not going cause you'll stay the week at my house and.and gossip with Mum or whatever it is that you do when you're in that room for hours."  
  
Lily shrugged as they climbed the front steps. "Maybe I'll take you up on that."  
  
***  
  
"Lily, it's okay really. No ones going to kill you if you don't do well." Remus was watching her pace all over the sidewalk outside of the gym. They were waiting for the others and Mack, to begin their first day of boxing training in the muggle gym and Lily was stressed. Even more so than usual.  
  
"You don't have to be perfect in everything. Relax really. What's the worst that could happen?"  
  
"Oh I don't know," Lily sighed sarcastically. "My sparring partner could beat me about the face and I'll look worse than I do when Rose hits."  
  
"What?!" Remus interrupted sharply. Lily slammed her hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean that."  
  
"You did." Remus grabbed her wrist where a purple mark was peeking out beneath the sleeve of her jacket and pushed the material up her arm.  
  
"Damn." There were black and blue marks the size of a fist in three different places; between her shoulder and elbow, just below the elbow, and at the wrist. Lily jerked the sleeve back down.  
  
"It's not what you think." She tried. "What's not what he thinks?" Alex asked, walking up on Sirius' arm with James walking next to them. "I was trying to explain.uh, it's not important. Come on let's go. Mack's probably waiting on us."  
  
***  
  
Gymnastics practice was hell. "Evans you're not balancing your weight evenly!" Remus watched Lily mutter under her breath as she walked back to the edge of the matt to start over again.  
  
She wore her long sleeved leotard with pants over and her face was pale and clammy and she had a bad case of the shakes. It was noticeable, at least to Remus. "Remember Evans!" Ms. Daniels yelled. "Round out, backhand spring, round out back hand spring, round out, full twisting layout."  
  
"I KNOW!" Lily shouted back. Sirius and James raised their eyebrows, looking a smidge amused; Lily rarely lost her temper and never at adults.  
  
She stood at the edge of the mat, fighting the queasiness and dizziness from so much spinning around. She raised her hands and arched into a back flip, the first in the sequence of combinations that the coach wanted.  
  
Coach blew her whistle. "15 MINUTE BREAK!" she shouted. Lily left for the back room when she felt a hand grab her arm. She winced. "Evans what's up with you lately?"  
  
"Nothing Margot."  
  
"Bullshit nothing." Challenged the girl hotly. "You're acting all paranoid and finicky again! I'll have you know I won't have our chances of wining the competition this year thrown off cause you can't get your act together."  
  
Lily took a step toward the other girl. "Back OFF Margot. You know good and well that it's me who pulls the weight of this team around anyway. If it weren't for me we wouldn't have won last year or the year before, or the year before that. So why don't you go sit on your bum like you're so used to doing because I got this."  
  
"We could do this without you with no problem!" Margot shouted, turning red in the face, her hands on her slender hips. "No," Lily shot back sharply. "You can't. You never could and you still can't, and I'd honestly like to see you try."  
  
She watched Margot stomp off before she changed directions and headed for the bleachers instead of the break room. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that was a bit arrogant Lils." Sirius joked. "I think Prongs is rubbing off on you."  
  
Lily shrugged dismissively, shoving through her bag until she came up with a bottle of water. She chugged a quarter of it when her coach came up next to her. "Evans, can I talk to you?"  
  
Lily rolled her eyes, and tossed her water bottle on the seat next to Remus. "Coming." She said in a false sugary sweet voice that was an octave higher than her own.  
  
When they walked far enough away, Daniels turned her by the arm. "I know what you said was true, but try to keep from irking Margot's temper."  
  
'What about my temper?' Lily thought and nodded. "There's a good girl." She said, patting the crown of Lily's red hair. "What am I a dog?" She grumbled. Daniels ruffled her hair just to make her aggravated.  
  
"Go have the rest of your break." She ordered. Lily blew her hair out of her eyes and walked back to the bleachers. "Rough day, Babe?" James whispered. She nodded. "Where everybody go?"  
  
"They're talking to some of the kids in the break room." Lily gave a resigned sigh and leaned onto her boyfriend's shoulder. "I don't think you have the stamina to keep at it like this." He told her. He picked her legs up and turned her sideways until her legs were stretched out across his lap.  
  
"Something wrong?" He asked when she winced. "No."  
  
"Then come outside with me."  
  
"Why?" James leaned forward, so that his face was next to her right ear, the side facing away from anyone who might be watching. He bit gently on her earlobe, smiling when she jumped half a mile in the air. "For a snog." He whispered softly. She shivered in his lap.  
  
"You can't be serious." Lily replied, even as she found herself easing out of his lap. "I am." He stood up next to her and grabbed her hand, gently leading her out of the room.  
  
"I don't believe I'm skipping out on Gymnastics to make out with you." She hissed once they were finally outside. "Would you rather go back?" he teased. "No."  
  
"Then shut up and kiss me."  
  
NEXT DAY:  
  
"What the hell happened to you?" James demanded. He'd sworn he'd dropped her off at her mother's house withOUT a limp. "I tripped." Was Lily's answer. She hopped on one foot off the stoop and James caught her arms before she stumbled.  
  
"It's fine I just don't want to put weight on it before today." James shrugged and lifted her arm around his neck. "It's not bad is it?" She shook her head. She'd gotten through dance without very many problems.  
  
And halfway through gymnastics when she twisted it again. She wasn't even doing anything hard: a simple cartwheel. "Let's see you carry the team on that ankle." Margot smirked. Lily made a face and declined the hand she held out to help her.  
  
"You'll see alright." She answered.  
  
NEXT WEEK:  
  
"You're daft if you think you can dance on that ankle!" Becky near shouted. "Don't pull me out of the competition." Lily argued. She'd fallen right into Manuel during practice and the contest was the next day. The same day as the Gymnastics finals and the concert.  
  
Becky gave her an antagonizing look. "Lily I know how hard you push yourself. You're to be dancing in three and a half inch heels in case it's slipped your mind. I don't want you to permanently damage your ankle."  
  
"I won't!" Lily pleaded. "And what about Manuel! Competition is tomorrow and he's worked too hard to saddle him when an unprepared partner! I can do it!"  
  
The time for the dance recital came quickly. All the members of the dance academy were psyched. There were 20 minutes to go and they were waiting backstage. Waiting to begin, and waiting to hear from the three pairs who were on their way back from competition.  
  
They should be arriving any moment now. All of a sudden three girls and three boys burst through the backstage door, screaming. Becky and Angie screamed too when they saw the six huge trophies that were held up in the air.  
  
"You did it!" Becky shouted, she gripped her girls as tight as she could. She laughed. "I can't believe it, all three of you!"  
  
*  
  
"Oh dear, places everyone!" Becky motioned frantically. A minute later the curtain went up. Lily, Melody, and Tonya all stayed behind, watching from behind the scenes as their peers danced.  
  
The applause was wild. And then Becky's voice rang out over the speakers. "Some of you may have noticed that three of our star dancers are not among our number. They partnered with three boys from the Marcson Academy and entered the advanced competition for pairs that was held this morning. I'm proud to say that all three of our girls came home with huge 1st place trophies!"  
  
The girls smiled at the audience's roar of applause. Becky announced the pairs and they walked onto the stage, each proudly holding their trophies. They placed them at the foot of the stage and got into their spots.  
  
Mad applause followed each of the pairs as they performed just as they had the morning before. Finally it was Lily and Manuel's turn.  
  
The stage lights turned on and the hip Latin trumpet notes flowed out through the speakers. Lily and Manuel entered from opposite sides of the stage. The audience murmured upon catching sight of their attire.  
  
While everyone else had worn their dance uniform, Lily was wearing high sandals and a silky dress that flowed smoothly around her thighs. Manuel wore black slacks, an oxford shirt and a cumber bun, his flat dance shoes nearly hidden beneath the hem of his pants.  
  
They began to dance, and knew nothing else.  
  
I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do  
  
Yo Get ya hands of me Stop tryin' to hold me down Let me just move around  
  
Girl something done happened to me Swear to god something done snapped in me I need the whole floor for us I'm 'bout to bust Mami and it's glorious  
  
Can't seem to stop my feet You hear my heart beat Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka  
  
Oh Lord I'm about to pass out But when the night is over I'm a be the last out  
  
Sweat pourin' in my eyes Vision's a blurry Even though my eyes is closed I see visions of her  
  
Un Mecito Mama en mi voca Estoy bien Livin la vida loca  
  
Heart jumpin and pumpin It's about to pop But don't tell me nuthin BACK UP  
  
I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do  
  
The way you press against me You messin' with me The way that dress it fittin' It's got to be forbidden  
  
No reason for security Ma I'm feeling secure You guardin' my body Baby come on and give me some more  
  
If all these people wasn't in here Flocking around I'd have you in the middle of the floor Baby knockin' you down  
  
Who you think they be talkin' 'bout When I walk in the house Cameras like Click click click Gazit gazit gazit  
  
A damn shame How you do the damn thing Girl you off the damn chain But you 'bout to be fame Look at ya  
  
Laughin' and grinnin' And dancin' and spinnin' It wasn't my intention But you got me gringin my linen Come on  
  
Call me a doctor give me a respirator Look into my eyes  
  
My blood pressure is rapidly risin'  
  
Arm all around me Naked leg all around my thigh Feel like Ex when you next to me getting' me high  
  
Dirty Dancin' honey That's how I like to play I be Patrick Swayze You be Jennifer Grey  
  
High heels Stiletto Sexy Straight out the ghetto  
  
She fire It's like I'm dancing with the devil  
  
Un Mecito Mama en mi voca Estoy bien Livin la vida loca  
  
Heart jumpin and pumpin It's about to pop But don't tell me nuthin' BACK UP  
  
I-can't- stop (baby don't hold me back) Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop (Baby don't hold me back) Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop (Baby don't hold me back) Do do do do do do do  
  
I can't stop Make it hot mama  
  
It's like a dream or a TV show Cinema scene Brother only dancing lambada People treatin' me mean  
  
Why they be flippin' And trippin' on me Chasin' me down Rippin' on me Racin' around Disgracin' the sound  
  
Got me on the run Runnin' for havin' fun They way they commin' Attackin' they act like I had a gun  
  
Cops give me room Stop tryin to give me doom They got me like OOOOOOOO Grrrrrrrrr  
  
I don't care who it is I ain't stopping for helicopters I ain't no fugitive  
  
Bonny and Clyde alive It's me and my shorty Get from in front of me I don't wanna hurt nobody  
  
Un Mecito Mama en mi voca Estoy bien Livin' la vida loca  
  
Heart pumpin and jumpin It's about to pop Suckas don't you come no closer Back UP  
  
I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop Do do do do do do do I- can't- stop  
  
After about a minute more, the music faded out, the house lights came on and it sounded as if there was an earthquake.  
  
Lily's grin couldn't possibly be any wider. Her dress nearly stuck to her legs she was so sweaty. She and Manuel bowed.  
  
The audience was still trying to bring the place down with their applause. People were standing.everyone was standing. And screaming.and whistling.  
  
The music came on again as people finally begin to leave. Lily and Manuel stayed on stage as the other dance students joined them. They danced again, but not nearly so hard.  
  
"Lily your family's waiting for you!" Becky shouted over the music [Dirrty]. But it was no use. She wasn't on stage with the rest of her students.  
  
In the furthest corner, Miss. Evans sat in the deepest recesses of the shadows. She was tired, but she'd done it. Yet another trophy to add to the wall at home. She hoped Rose was satisfied with it.  
  
She spotted, James, Sirius, Remus, and Alex talking with Becky.  
  
She also saw Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Danielle, and a whole lot of her friends from Gymnastics, and Vocal Camp. Just for the moment, life was great again. Despite the dizziness and the sudden urge to pass out. 


	17. Dining Interrupted

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. You know the deal.

Chapter 17

            Lily showered and, still wrapped in only her decadently short bath towel, dashed from the bathroom to her bedroom. Why was her door closed?  She jiggled the knob. It wouldn't give. 

            Weird, she decided. Very weird. She glanced out of the hall window to make sure that her family was still in the back yard. There they all were. Good. No one would see her locked out of her room with no clothes on. 

            She lamely kicked the door beneath the doorknob. Of course the door didn't give, and she'd received a throbbing foot in return. She heard a soft voice laughing and she turned her head.

            Not even a full foot behind her, stood the friendly photographer from the studio she'd been visiting for the past few weeks. Well…he was friendly until he'd accidentally let his hand slip across her chest when he was adjusting the edges of her jacket for the picture.

            He stepped closer, eliminating whatever space between them Lily had been thankful for. "It's rude to laugh at someone in a predicament such as I." She reminded him, aggravated. How could she have forgotten her parents had invited him?

            Then she remembered her exact predicament. She was standing in front the entirely wrong person, in an empty house, clad in a towel that barely covered her chest or her bum. 

            "It's also rude to invade a person's personal space like this." She tripped over her words as he dared to come close enough so that his shoes were almost touching her toes. "Doubly so when that person is a female, who isn't wearing any clothes, and doesn't want you anywhere near her."

            He stepped closer, so close that his legs were trapping both of hers between his. "Jewel do I look like the type of person who gives a rot?" He smashed his face against hers, slanting his mouth harshly over hers.

            Lily sat up in her bed, squeezing her skull between her hands, trying to rid her memory of that incident. But no matter how much she protested, her brain insisted on finishing the whole memory.

            Clarks had then used the spare key Rose had given him and unlocked her door. He'd pushed her inside and relocked it, making sure before that he'd had all of the keys to that door with him.

            That day, the day that knotted the already tangled thread of her so-called life, was the first day that he'd tried to force himself on her.

That day was the first day…he tried to rape her.

            But thanks to Rose he'd gotten what he wanted the next time.

            And no matter what she did, what spells she'd used to eject every reminder of the incident from her mind, it refused to leave her in peace. It haunted her every time she closed her eyes, every time she was alone in a room, or in the dark, or in the hallway or her house.

            Every time she was around her 'mother', and especially around him. Living with him in Rose's home had nearly killed her. Every scratch of a tree against a window was, in her mind, Clarks trying to get in the room. 

            Every footstep passing in the hall outside her door had her wandering if he would stop and break into her room to try again. Why not? Rose had no problem with it. 

            She'd sold her own daughter's body in exchange for a job as a model and then turned around and got engaged to the creep. She wouldn't care at all. She'd probably send him up to Lily after she'd finished beating her. 

            Oh how Lily'd lied to her friends when they discovered a new bruise, or cut, or limp she'd suddenly become afflicted with. She knew Remus had told James. He'd discussed it with her, which is how she'd ended up at the Potter's house yet again.

             They'd swept her away, saying that they would keep her away from Rose just to be safe but they wouldn't tell Mr. and Mrs. Potter until Lily herself told her that Rose had beaten her. 

            Lily didn't know what to do. She was so distraught. "Lils? Babe, what do you think my mom wants to tell us?"

            "Oh!" Lily had certainly forgotten that James was sitting on the edge of her bed, reading a quidditch book. "Uh, I don't know. It has to be pretty important if she's taking you guys out to dinner."

"Us." James said. "Pardon?" Lily asked.

"She'd taking _us_ to dinner. As in you and I." Lily looked at him. "I can't do that. You go. I…I wouldn't feel right.

            "Since when?" James asked, setting his book down, looking mature, much more than 16. "I wouldn't feel comfortable. It's, uh…it should be a family thing you know?"

            She watched him watching her, and felt her heart swell. When it seemed apparent that she wasn't going to say anything more, he scooted closer to her. It was then that she'd decided to use her voice.

            "Want to know something weird?" She laid her head in his lap and reached up to caress the side of his face. "What's that?" he asked. "You're the most immature person I know at school-

            "Gee thanks."

            "No, let me finish. You're one of the most immature people I know at school and yet, when it's just the two of us, you're whatever you feel like when the mood strikes. We can have a totally disgusting, or immature conversations, but we equally have sincere, mature talks. 

            I like having that between us. We can really be ourselves with each other without having to live up to the expectations of the kids at school. You don't always have to be the super cool prank loving Marauder."

            "And you don't have to be the bad ass smart mouther who gets top marks behind the scenes." James added with a wry chuckle. "I mean look at us now, this very moment. We're curled up on a bed reading and talking and having a nice time just sitting here. 

            If we'd act the same way we'd act according to what goes on during the day at school we should be er…snogging each other senseless or something like that. Instead we're behaving just like an old married couple."

            "What's wrong with that?" Lily asked, playing with a loose thread on James's shirt, trying her hardest to look the epitome of innocence. "Acting like an old married couple?" James asked, distracted by the touch of Lily's cool skin on his when her hand accidentally slipped under his shirt.

            It may have slipped accidentally, but she left her hand exactly where it was. "No." Lily shook her head. "Snogging each other senseless."

            "If you want my tongue in your mouth all you have to do is ask." James teased, raising an eyebrow. "Now you're just being a cocky S.O.B" Lily informed him, scooting away. He put a hand dramatically over his heart. "You wound me Evans. Never the less, get your cute ass over here." He patted the space next to him, winking.

            "You look at my bum Potter?" Lily accused. "Every chance I get. Now come here."

            "Why?" Lily asked stubbornly, acting as if she were too pure to understand what was going on. "Because…" He winked again. "I want to…do things to you."

            "Oh, alright!" Lily agreed, laughingly, hopping into his lap. James pulled an overly confused face. "Hey! What happened to the shy, old fashioned red haired girl whose virgin ears should be offended?" he asked, pretending to be a mite…bewildered.

            Lily was trying hard to keep a straight face for their little game. "_Virgin_ ears Potter?" She cooed coyly, straddling his lap and pressing her body as close to his as possible. 

            "Of course." He answered, a bit distracted by her playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. "Oh, but James darling, don't you remember that cold December night?" She bit the end of his ear, ever so lightly as she whispered into it. "We'd had all of those fire whiskeys and needed to keep each other warm?"

            James gulped audibly, no longer joking around. He looked at her, longing shining clearly in the depths of his blue eyes. Lily was no longer joking either. She continued to nip on his ear.

            Moving her moth lower, she kissed the hollow spot at the base of his neck. James groaned, gripping her knees tightly. Wearing shorts, Lily gasped at the feel of his hands moving on her bare skin. She worked back up, kissing his chin, and then his mouth.

            At two AM, Tyler and Sirena stepped out of the fireplace. "Did you kids find anything interesting to do today?" Sirena asked, spotting the two cuddled together on the couch reading. "You could say that." James answered, pretending to be entranced in his quidditch book. 

            Lily raised _Little Women_ to face level, hiding her scarlet face.

                                          ***

            Tyler reached across the table and gently pried the poor abused napkin out of Lily's hands. "Relax will you?" Lily flashed him a small smile. James nudged her in the side and smirked. 

            She scowled in return. Mrs. Potter wiped at the corners of her mouth with a napkin and smiled at the three. "I've got an announcement to make." She smiled at Lily and James in turn, clasping Tyler's hand.

            "I, um, we, that is to say…er, we're having a baby."

            Lily's mouth dropped open, as did James's. Lily tossed her napkin into her chair and hugged Sirena. "Congratulations." 

            "Wow." James uttered, shocked. His mother disentangled herself from Lily's arms. "You're not upset are you?" she asked carefully. "Of course not. I'd say it's about time I'd got a little sister or brother."

            He kissed his mother on the cheek and patted his father on the back. "Glad you feel that way son." Tyler said. "Glad you feel that way."

            Lily's smile faded as she returned to her seat. The skin behind her eyes and nose prickled sharply. Why had Sirena and Tyler shared this with her? She wasn't a member of their family. Just a…a friend of the family if you could call it that.

            Then she thought about her surrogate mother expecting a child and she smiled. "So you choose to celebrate with these freaks instead of with your sister and your normal family?" a voice in her head demanded.

            Lily's eyes widened. One, because the voice sounded oddly like her sister's and two, because there was no voice in her head. She pivoted in her chair and found herself staring into a mass of silky pink material. Petunia to be exact. 

            "Oh boy. Hi Petunia." Her sister crossed her arms over her chest and twisted her lips at her. "I wasn't aware that there was any need to be celebrating? What's the occasion?"

            Petunia ignored her question. "But then again, I can't fault you for not being there since neither Mother or I wanted you there."

            Lily turned back to the Potters. "Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter, James, this is my sister Petunia. Petunia, these are the Potters. You remember, they lived next door to us since-."

            "Yes, I remember." Petunia interrupted. She glared at the three, and turned to look at her sister expectantly. "Excuse me." Lily followed her away from the table and to a small secluded area occupied by Rose, Max, and a beefy man she'd never seen before.

            "Vernon, this is Lily. She's the one I told you about. Lily this is my fiancée Vernon Dursley. We're celebrating out marriage tomorrow." Lily reached out to shake the man's hand but he simply stared at her. Lily withdrew her hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Dursley."

            Rose stood. "Petunia, Vernon honey, excuse me for a moment, I'd like to talk to Lillian." She forced Lily out of the restaurant by the elbow. Lily winced. Finally, she was released, a good block away from the restaurant. 

            "Where have you been all week?" she demanded. "The same place I've been all summer." Lily replied. "But I have a better question. Why didn't anyone bother to mention to me that Petunia was engaged?"

            "Because you never asked."

            "And how would I have known to? 'Good morning Rose. Any of my siblings getting married that I should know about?'"

            "Watch your tone when you're talking to me. And Petunia, rightly, doesn't want you to come. I don't either for that matter. You'll go mucking everything up like you always do. The only reason I'm inviting you now is because your father is adamant about you attending. Poor Petunia, she'll be devastated."

            Lily frowned. "Oh, the poor baby. If she doesn't want me there then I won't go."

            "Oh you'll go." Rose commanded. "I want to show you exactly what the perfect daughter's wedding looks like. You'll obviously be married in some shotgun ceremony in a shack in the middle of nowhere and this will be a good opportunity for you."

            Lily said nothing. "Now what are you getting all uppity? Jealous of your sister are you?"

            "No ma'am."

            "Filthy liar. I swear, Lillian, you're good for absolutely nothing." Lily's eyes darted upward. "Don't like being told the truth? Get used to it. You're pitifully jealous because you know good and well that you'll marry that good for nothing Potter boy because he tells you lies of fairy tale romances. Grow up and get yourself a real man like your sister did."

            "What do you mean get myself a real man?" Lily screamed back. "You mean like you did? Saddle up with some child molesting rapist because it's good for your image? No thanks. I'd rather marry for love as distasteful and uncommon as it is these days." She finished sarcastically. 

            "You want to know a secret Lillian? Love doesn't exist. Only in the minds of foolish young girls."

            "Well then I guess I'm as foolish as they come aren't I?"

            "No more! I gave you time, tried to force you to see the error of your ways and to leave that boy and live normally but nothing works with you! But I suppose nothing works with nasty little whores like yourself."

            "Shut up!"

            "Truth hurts doesn't it?"

            "Shut UP!"

            "Not until you see, until you realize what you are. You weren't forced to be with Max, you wanted it all along."

            "**NO!**"

            "You asked for it, begged for it! The way you dressed!"

            "**I DIDN'T!**"

            "The way you carried yourself."

            "**I DID NOT! DID NOT! DID NOT!**" Lily felt someone behind her lay a calming hand on her shoulder. "Proud of yourself?" A male voice asked. Tyler Potter stood behind Lily, who was vaguely aware of anything anymore, half blinded by rage.

            "That's what you wanted isn't it? To do _this_ to her? I'm disgusted." He shook his head slowly. "You don't deserve a child like her. You really don't." He stepped forward and linked arms with Lily. With a 'pop' that startled Rose, the two disappeared.


	18. Her Old Self

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. You know the deal.  
  
A/N: I'M SO SORRY GUYS! I UPLOADED THE WRONG CHAPTER 18! HERE IS THE REAL ONE!!!  
  
Chapter 18:  
  
"I didn't. I swear I didn't." Lily murmured again. "Should we wake her up?" Tyler asked, looking to his wife. Sirena nodded, brushing sweaty hair away from the fitful teenager's forehead.  
  
"It's not fair." She said, gazing lovingly. "I always berated myself. Told myself it was disrespectful to think of Lily as my second baby, my daughter. She has a mother, I said. But I can't help it. And she doesn't deserve to be treated that way."  
  
"She's not going home." Tyler stated firmly. "Ty, we can't keep her from her mother."  
  
"Damn that." Tyler countered. "Her father's in Paris, and he's not coming back for Merlin knows how long."  
  
"But Rose."  
  
"Doesn't give a rot about what happens to this child. She's spent all of this summer here any way, why not let her live with us. Can't say James won't love the idea."  
  
Sirena smiled. "You can just see how much he loves her, and how fiercely she loves him back. They have such a mature relationship for their age."  
  
Her husband grinned. "They'll be married right out of school I bet."  
  
"You sound like your son, the cocky little blighter." Lily murmured, rising and rubbing her eyes sleepily.  
  
"We're not cocky. Just-."  
  
"Sure of yourself." Sirena and Lily finished. They giggled. "Are we being mocked?" James asked, walking into the room. "I think we are." Tyler agreed.  
  
"I think you are too." Sirena added. "And me." Lily said.  
  
***  
  
A short, two days later, All Hogwarts students boarded the familiar scarlet steam engine. Lily and James were made prefects of course. Lily got quite a shock also. Melody was sitting alone in their usual compartment.  
  
But, oh well. It was all taken in stride. School started smoothly. It was actually fun. Having a much lighter work load then the previous year, the sixth years found themselves with a lot of free time on their hands.  
  
After a particularly dull History of Magic lesson, Melody found herself half dancing, half walking down the hallway. Lily laughed, it was Friday, and a Halloween. Of course her friend was in a good mood.  
  
And Melody in a good mood, meant dancing, 9 out of 10. Lily on the other hand, started vocalizing, under her breath. Melody caught the pattern and joined in, snapping the beat.  
  
"You give me fever. Yeah. Fe-e-e-ever. Oh." Lily sang.  
  
"You give me fever. Fever in the morning, fever when it's late at night.  
You give me fever. Fever when you kiss me. Fever when you hold me tight.  
You give me fever. Fever in the evening. Fever all through the night.  
You give me fever. Fever when you're with me. Fever when you lo-o-ove me."  
  
"Whooo!"  
  
Lily bowed when the Marauders started clapping from behind her. "Thank-you. Thank-you. I'll be here until Christmas."  
  
"She's certainly acting like her old self." Remus whispered to James as they walked. "I know." James said laughing. "And I'm glad."  
  
He watched Lily make fireballs in her hands and then close her fist around them until they extinguished. "Show off." Sirius teased. "Hey Lils, be careful with those things." Alex warned. "I got it." Lily replied.  
  
She started making them bigger, juggling them three, four, five at a time. "My, my Evans. Doing magic in the corridors? And a prefect no less."  
  
"Sod off Malfoy." Lily countered easily, extinguishing them all at once. "Make me muggle."  
  
"If I'm a muggle why are you taking precious time lowering your huge head from its pedestal to bug me?"  
  
"Cause I feel like it."  
  
"I'm sure you do."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Exactly what I said. Not very quick on the uptake are you Malfoy?"  
  
"Sod off."  
  
"Thought so." Lily side stepped him and continued on her way to the great hall, singing. James merely shook his head and followed. It was weird that before Malfoy bothered her so and now she barely paid him any attention.  
  
But then that was Lily for you. Back to her old self, she was a real spitfire.  
  
After dinners, Lily, James, Alex, Sirius, and Remus had training. Which meant that they normally didn't get to their common room until late, and were dead tired. Doubly so for James and Sirius, who had quidditch practice.  
  
Alex found herself slightly more interested in quidditch. She dragged Lily with her to practices right after dinner to watch their boyfriends and walk with them to training.  
  
It was on a Wednesday during practicee, when Lily'd been dragged along, yet again. She pulled a thickset novel and read, pretending to pay attention to Alex's commentary on the practice games.  
  
"Lily, did you hear what I said?"  
  
"I totally agree." Lily murmured, not paying any attention at all. "So you think I should break up with Sirius then?"  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
"Gotcha! You weren't paying any attention at all."  
  
"No not really."  
  
"LILY." Alex groaned. She jostled her friend's shoulders, but Lily was staring at the bottom of the quidditch pitch. "Oh, now you're interested."  
  
Lily shook her head. "No. I just thought I saw something down there. Like a dog or something." She shrugged. "Anyways. So what do you say you, me, Danielle, and Melody sneak out of here on Friday night?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Does there have to be a reason? Come on Als. Live a little. You know if Sirius asked you, you'd go in a heartbeat."  
  
"Well that's different." Alex defended. "I'd feel safer if it wasn't just us girls. You know how Hogsmeade gets at night sometimes. Especially this close to Halloween."  
  
"Alex!" Lily whined. "There'll be four of us! And I didn't literally mean Hogsmeade. I meant that...other place."  
  
"Oh! Alright, then. I guess."  
  
"Good. We'll have a regular girls' night out."  
  
***  
  
Lily held her breath as she watched Danielle dash across the corridor, from one shadow to another. She was last to go and quickly caught up with her friends. Now all they had to do was drop from the secret trap door into the corridor right outside the corridor to Gryffindor tower.  
  
"Okay." Peter grumbled. "It's bad enough that the three of you dragged me out of bed at who knows what time to wait on the girls but they're late."  
  
"Quit your grumbling." Melody's voice hissed from above. The Marauders were greeted by her smiling face peeking over the edge of a square hole in the ceiling. "Watch out". She dropped a huge heavy backpack to the floor and quickly followed, landing on her feet.  
  
Danielle's entrance was less dignified but luckily she landed in Remus' arms. Alex quickly followed. "Come on Lily." Sirius hissed, staring up into the black space, waiting for his friend to come out.  
  
"This was a bad idea." She whispered. The floor looked an awfully long way down. "I'm going around."  
  
"What for?" James demanded. "Hurry up before Filch-." Uneven footsteps echoed off the stone walls. Lily landed unsteadily on her feet, grabbed the nearest person, Peter, and took off running.  
  
***  
  
"Almost got us caught back there Evans." Remus teased, nudging her in the ribs. Lily nodded. "Right. Sorry about that."  
  
"I should give you the silent treatment for a week for making me run so fast." Sirius added. "Pugh." James replied. "You needed the exercise. You're getting fat."  
  
"Did he just call me fat?" Sirius asked looking at Lily. He looked at Alex too. "Did you just hear him call me fat?"  
  
A/N: THERE YOU GO! HOW'D YOU LIKE IT! PLEASE TELL ME IN A REVIEW, IT WOULD MAKE MY HORRIBLE LIFE, OH, SO MUCH BRIGHTER! *Clearbrook 


	19. What People Say Behind Your Back

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot.

Chapter 19:

            James looked across the aisle at Lily, who was leisurely copying notes, and smiled to himself. "Mr. Potter, care to share your project topic with us?"

            James rolled his eyes. He hated potions class, he really did. Bloody professor picked on he and Sirius all bloody period. "Not really." The professor rolled her eyes and turned back to the class.

            "Once you've picked your potion, you must keep a detailed journal and synopsis of the steps you took, the ingredients you've used and for what purpose, and the desired effects.

            This potion counts for 95% of your whole grade this year so I'd advise you to take this seriously, if it isn't too much trouble."

            Sirius raised his hand. "This project is going to take the whole school year?" The professor nodded and smirked. "If you hurry." The class groaned and the bell rang, dismissing them.

            "Why do we have to have such a huge workload this year?" Complained Melody, upstairs, as Lily changed her clothes. "Because we're taking N.E.W.T preparatory classes."

            "So, what's up for this weekend?" Melody asked. "I've got a prefect meeting Sunday night." Lily said. "But other than that I was planning on catching up on homework, and…" She looked around the room to make sure it as completely empty. "I was planning on sneaking out and going to town again; maybe a movie; something to take my mind off of schoolwork for a while. You want to go?"

            Melody shrugged. "I'm up for a day of rule breaking. Like old times eh Lia?"

            "Yep, Mellie, just like old times. And might as well get everyone's Christmas gifts while we're there, so what do you say we make a whole day out of it."

            "Excellent! We can leave early tomorrow morning yeah?"

            "Perfect. I'll talk to the guys tomorrow and see if they'll cover for me."

            Lily and Melody got out of bed the next morning, quiet as mice. They dressed to kill and Lily even put on a small amount of make-up, only lip-liner and lip-color, and curled her hair in wide ringlets.

            Both girls put on calve-high boots to accent their skirts, and pulled on their almost-ground-length cloaks with the big hoods. Lily put her gloves on and swung her small black leather backpack purse over her shoulders.

            She tiptoed silently down the stairs, and up to the 6th year boys' dorm, with Melody behind her. She made her way over to James bed and parted the curtains slightly.

            "James." She hissed. "James, wake up!" The boy didn't budge. She placed a feather light kiss on his lips and his eyes shot open. She covered his mouth with her gloved hand.

            "James, Mel and I are going out for the day okay? Could you cover for us?" He nodded, eyes still sleepy. "Thank you." She removed her hand. "You're going to be gone all day then?"

            "Yes sir." She affirmed. He struggled to sit up, still sleep ridden. But she pushed him back down. "Go back to sleep. I'll see you tonight."

            From her post by the doorway, Melody saw both of James' arms go up, reaching for Lily as he mumbled something.

            "Big baby." Lily giggled quietly. She leaned down and gave him a hug and a kiss, when both his arms snaked around her waist and anchored her to him, deepening their kiss.

Finally, James let her go, but it took a moment longer for Lily to sever their connection. James kissed her once more, gently on the lips. "Bye gorgeous." He whispered. "Bye cutie." She kissed him one last time and murmured. "Go back to sleep."

            The two girls finally snuck out of the castle through a secret passageway and made their way into the portal in Hogsmeade that led them into the busy downtown of a muggle city.

            This time, upon entering the city, they turned in the opposite direction, and of course Melody spotted the all of the glitzy stores.

            "Relax, that's where we're going remember?" Lily reminded her friend, who'd gotten a little excited. Melody dragged Lily towards the buildings a little forcefully. "Slow down!" Lily laughed.

            "Are you serious?" A student yelled out. McGonagall nodded, a small smile seeping through her tight-lipped expression. "Quite serious, Mr. Bartlow." She explained to the fourth year Hufflepuff, as well as to the rest of the Great Hall.  The older students cheered.

            A day off was exactly what they needed. "Now, listen closely. The carriages leave in three quarters of an hour. If you're not dressed and down here by then, you'll be left behind." She hid her smile as the students scattered to their respective common rooms.

            "A DAY OFF!" Sirius Black cried, pumping his fist happily. Remus, James, and Peter smiled as well. They were allowed to spend the day in Hogsmeade, who wouldn't be happy? Especially the 5th, 6th, and 7th years, who had O.W.L.s and or N.E.W.T.s, and or preparatory classes.

            "What about this one?" Melody suggested, holding up an emerald green cheongsam. "It's gorgeous." Lily breathed, reaching out her finger to caress the silky material. Melody handed it to her. "Go try it on. It's the last one."

            "How does it look?" Lily asked, once she'd managed to get the three small knobs through the loops at the collar. "It's gorgeous on you." Melody squealed. "Turn around and let me see the back." Lily twirled and pulled her hair up to show her shop-happy friend the back of her dress.

            "Oh you should definitely get that one." Melody said firmly. "And we can have you some shoes dyed in Hogsmeade." She added quietly. Lily nodded, and shortly, they were paying for the dress at the counter.

            "Where next?" Lily asked, as they let the busy shoppers mill around them. "Let's go in the jewelry shop." Melody suggested. "Just to look."

            "It looks kind of pricy in here." Lily said, looking around at the diamond and gold displays. "Ah, it's not bad at all, actually." Melody told her, bending over to study the price tags.

            "That's because you're looking at the wrong case." Lily amended, pointing to the glass displays on the other side of the store. Melody whistled. "I think I'll stick to this side thanks." She said. Lily laughed, looking on the more expensive side at the white gold jewelry.

            "Can I help you?" The elderly woman behind the counter asked a little coldly. Lily nodded, unfazed by her snippy tone. "Yes. How much is this bracelet?" She tapped the glass above a white gold bracelet with a panel for a name to be inscribed on.

            "It's one hundred and fifty." The woman said, gazing at Lily knowingly, one hundred percent sure that this kid was window shopping and wasting breath asking. "And how much will it be to put a name on that panel there?"

            The jeweler crossed her arms over her chest.  "The first five letters and any characters are free of cost and the price is 1.50 for every two letters more."

            "I'll take it."

            "Very well." The woman said, slightly shocked. "I'll be right back." Meanwhile, Melody shook her head. "Lily, I don't see why you don't just get the silver one. It's loads cheaper." She said.

            "This one's got better detail, and besides, Remus is allergic to silver. Did you see the way that woman was acting? Merlin, like I was gonna knick it or something."

            Melody chuckled as the jeweler came back out with a slip in her hand. "Write down what you want on the ID Tag in this box please."

            Lily nodded. "Do you have a qui- er, a pen? Thank you."

            She wrote in clear, neat writing: Lily & James, and slid the slip back across the counter. The woman disappeared again, and came back with a second slip; the total price: one hundred and fifty-four-fifty.

            Lily pulled a wad of bills out of a pocket inside her purse, thought better of it, pulled out a bank slip, wrote the appropriate amount down, signed it, and handed it to the jeweler, who left once more.

            "I'll be right back and we can fit the bracelet." She muttered as she left. Lily shook her head and smirked.

            Outside the shop, a tall, dark haired young man nudged his buddies and nodded towards the two girls. The bell over the door jingled as he strutted inside, just as the flaxen haired jeweler returned and placed the bracelet gingerly on Lily's wrist.

            "Is this a good fit Miss. Evans?" she asked. "Could I have one that's a little smaller please?"

            The woman nodded and knelt down to get a shorter bracelet from underneath the glass case.

            "Miss. Evans, hmm?"

            The two girls jumped, startled by the unfamiliar voice. They turned to see four unknown teenage boys in the shop. The first one, the one who had spoken, smiled at Lily, looking her up and down. "So, tell me, Miss. Evans, do you have a first name?"

            "Sure I do."

            The boy looked her up and down again with his light brown eyes. "What is it?" he asked. "That would be for me to know and you to never find out." Lily answered, turning back around to face the counter.

            "Ooh. Shot down." One of his friends snickered. Melody smiled and turned to face the boys fully. Immediately, the cute one in the back caught her eye.  He grinned at her and her insides turned into mush. He stepped forward, pushing past his friends. "Hi," he held out his hand, using the other to push his brown locks out of his eyes. "I'm Josh."

            Melody shook his hand, all smiles. "I'm Melody."

            "That's a pretty name." Josh said, leaning against the counter. "Thanks." She said, in a daze. Josh had the most pretty brown eyes…they just captivated her. In the background, she could barely hear anyone else talking.

            "Well, I'm Michael." The dark haired boy introduced himself, following Josh's example and leaning against the counter next to the red head. "Good for you." She replied, taking a step away. "Well, you know my name. Aren't you going to tell me yours now?"      

            "My name…" Lily said slowly, facing the boy as the jewelry clerk put the new bracelet on her wrist. "Yes." He said, leaning forward again. Lily nodded at the woman, who disappeared into the back room to engrave the plate on the bracelet. "Is none of your business."

            "Oh, Lily, don't be so mean." Melody said, leaning around Josh to look at her. "MELODY!"

            "Lily huh?" Michael said. "I like that. I don't think it fits your personality though."

            "That's something you'll have to take up with my mother then." Lily said crossly, turning away before she quickly turned back. "And how would you know how my personality is like anyway? You've only just laid eyes on me for the first time, what, five ten minutes ago?"

            The woman returned with Lily's bracelet all wrapped and bagged. Lily thanked her, and picked up her other bags, prepared to leave. "She glanced exaggeratingly at her watch. "Come on, Melody." She said. "We have to go."

            Her friend stopped flirting with Josh long enough to frown at her. "What's the rush?" Josh asked quickly. "We have to finish shopping and get back to school before its curfew and they notice we're missing." Lily said.

            "Well, how about we walk with you?" Michael suggested hurriedly. "I mean," he added with a winning smile. "Since our friends seem to be getting along so well and all."

            "Lily, can I speak to you for a moment." Melody dragged her to the other end of the store before she could even open her mouth to answer. "Please." She pleaded under her breath. "It's not like we'll ever see them again, and I really like Josh."

            "You've known him 15 minutes how can you really like him by now?" Lily demanded stubbornly. "Oh, Lily, come on! Lighten up. I'm going with them whether you come along or not, and you wouldn't leave me by myself for the day with four strange boys where I could be dragged into an alley and kidnapped or chopped into little pieces would you?"

            "If you were worried about being kidnapped or chopped into little pieces you wouldn't be going and wouldn't be dragging me into it either!" Lily pointed out. "No!"

            "Lily, please!" Melody pleaded, giving the red head puppy eyes. "I'm begging you! Just do this one thing for me and I'll never ask you anything again."

            "Fine." Lily sighed, admitting defeat. "But if something happens to…let's just go."

            Melody squealed, and bounded all too happily over to where Michael and Josh waited with their two friends. "Let's go guys." she said.

            Lily frowned deeply as she followed them out of the shop. "So glad you decided to join us." Michael said, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "It's against my better judgment." She informed him, shrugging his arm off violently. "Don't touch me."

            "Ah, let me guess." Michael said. "You're the proverbial designated driver? Trying to make sure nothing happens to you or your pretty friend?" He put an arm around her again and hugged her to him. "I assure you. She's safe, Josh doesn't bite." He leaned down closer to her ear and whispered. "It's me you have to worry about."

            "Don't touch me." She repeated forcefully, ducking under his arm. Both Melody and Josh, who were walking ahead, turned their heads. "Hey, Mike. Leave her alone." Josh said. Melody gave Lily an encouraging smile before she turned back around and Josh put his arm around her.

            "Lily, are you mad at me?" Melody asked after the boys decided it had been high time to split. "What do you think?" Lily demanded as she headed briskly, through the barrier that led them back into Hogsmeade.

            "Yes?" Melody tried sheepishly as Lily stormed into Honeydukes. "Very good."

            "You don't have to be so condescending." Melody muttered as Lily swept up five of the store's largest chocolate bars and paid for them. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a little pissed at the moment, forgive me if I come off with an attitude." Lily said sarcastically.

            "Well, uh…you're going to be sick if you eat all of that today." Melody said…having found nothing else to say. Lily glared at her. "Sorry." She squeaked, and was quiet as Lily plopped down on a bench outside the shop and broke a nice hunk off the first chocolate bar.

            "Lily, really, it wasn't all that bad was it?"

            Lily's head snapped up. "Easy for you to say. She hissed angrily. "Nobody tried to grab your butt, and your chest and then spill ice water down the front of you just so he could try and wipe it away, now did they?"

            "Look, Lily, I already told you I was sorry. And Josh apologized for Michael."

            "Well, maybe apologies aren't going to cut it right now, Melody! Merlin!" She grabbed her bags and walked back into Honeydukes, and into the back were she kicked up the trap door and half ran all the way back to Hogwarts.

            After she threw her bags under her bed, she put on some sweat pants, a t-shirt and laced up her trainers, and walked down to the Kitchens to ask the house elves for a big, huge cup of hot cocoa, or strong tea…or something.

            In nearly an hour later, she was back in her dorm, changing back into her clothes from before. She decided she was going to go back to the city and try to finish her shopping. It was only about 1:30 and besides, there was virtually nobody in Gryffindor Tower.

            She slung her purse over her shoulders and left again out of the portrait hole. She was back in the city by 2:15. A bit calmer now than she was an hour ago, she searched though the windows as she passed by the shop, trying to find something that she could buy the guys for Christmas.

            No kind of clothes would do, and neither would any kind of electronic, because they couldn't be used in Hogwarts. So what? What to get the Marauders, who all had virtually whatever they could possibly want already.

            And then she saw them, in a shop a few feet ahead of where she was standing. Two watches, on gold and one silver, rotated on a pillar in what must have been the fifth different jewelry shop she'd seen that day.

            It was perfect. James had broken his watch in Quidditch, Sirius kept saying he was going to buy one and never did, Remus' watch was falling apart and she didn't even know whether or not Peter owned one.

            "Can I help you miss?" An elderly man with shocking white hair asked as she stepped into the warm building, removing her heavy leather gloves.

            "Yes, actually." She said. "I was looking for Men's watches, as Christmas presents for my friends. Can you show me some?"

            The man, whose nametag read "William" flashed her a friendly smile. "While certainly dear. What kind are you looking for? Silver? Gold?"

            "Can't be silver." Lily mused to herself, "And gold certainly won't do. Hmm. Do you have any that are white gold?"

            "How about this one?" The man led her to the far side of the display cases and showed her one. It was all white gold except, the face was black. "The whole thing's made out of white gold and they're water proof."

            "I like this one. May I see it?"

            "Sure, thing." William walked behind the counter and unlocked the case. Gingerly he put the watch in Lily's hand. "It's heavy." She observed. "Are they strong?"

            "Very sturdy." He said, nodding. "How much is it?" Lily asked. "It's two-hundred-fifty even."

            Lily winced. "How many do you have?"

            "Exactly five, not counting this one because it's a fake."

            "I'll take four. No, wait!" What would she get Tyler? "I have a feeling I'll regret spending so much later, buy I'll take the fifth one as well."

            William nodded and said. "I'll tell you what. Since you seem like such a nice young woman, I'll take fifty off each one and only charge ten hundred for the lot, and if you want I'll engrave the back of them for free."

            "Deal!" Lily exclaimed happily. "Thank you so much."

            "No problem. Here." He pulled a piece of paper out of a box nearby. "Write down any message you want for each watch, and I'll print up a receipt."

            Smiling, Lily did as he asked. By the time she was done, the receipt was already done. "Unless you want to wait in here, you can come and pick these up in about an hour."

            "I'll come back." Lily said. "I've still got other Christmas shopping to do. Thanks again."

            "You're quite welcome, young woman."

            Needless to say, Lily felt quite sick; having spent so much money in such a short amount of time.

            She'd only had a little over the two thousand that she'd won from the summer's dance contest, and now she had a thousand and fifty left. But her friends were worth it.

            With a derisive sigh, she crossed the street to head into a bookstore to wait for the boys' Christmas presents to be ready. "LILY!"

            "Huh?" Her head snapped around, searching for whoever had called her, her hand frozen on the door. "Over here!" She turned around again, and found herself standing ten feet away from her boyfriend. "Hey!" She went over to him and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"

            "We're allowed out for the day. I got bored in Hogsmeade, so I came looking for you. Where's Melody?"

            "In Hogsmeade the last time I saw her." Lily explained. "We were heading back to school about an hour ago and I decided to come back after I put my bags down."

            She turned and walked inside the bookstore and James followed her in. "I'm so glad I found you." He said. "Have you any idea how big this place is?"

            "Did it take you long to find me?"

            "Only about twenty minutes. Did you buy much?"

            "I spent so much money, I feel sick." She admitted, picking up a thick novel, and thumbing through its pages. "You'd better like your Christmas present, that's all I have to say."

            "You're Christmas shopping this early?"

            "Yup. Beat the rush. This way I won't be running around like a loon three weeks before Christmas like the rest of you."

            "I don't know what you're talking about." James said, holding her book for her. "I bought your Christmas present last month."

            "Liar."

            "No, really. I bought everybody's. I even got Mom's and Dad's."

            "Well I'll be." Lily teased. "You did something before the last minute, how about that."

            James smirked, tickling her sides and making her squeal. "James! Okay, Okay! Sorry!"

            "Wait out here." Lily instructed firmly. "Lily it's cold!" James whined. "I promise I won't be long. Just wait out here."

            "The things I do for you." James muttered. "Don't be cross. I'll be quick, I promise." Lily kissed him quickly on the lips and walked inside the shop.

            "Ah, I've just put the last one in the box." William said, looking up as the bell above the door chimed. Lily smiled. "Brilliant."

            He held one of the cases out to her; a black leather box with a silver name plate over the top that had 'Peter' engraved across it in fancy lettering. "Wonderful." She said. "But, can I have this taken off the box with Remus' name on it? He's allergic to silver."

            "The labels are stainless steel. Quite safe." William assured her. "Marvelous." Lily pulled a wad off bills out of her purse and counted out ten hundred pound notes, or hundred dollar bills depending on how you look at it, and handed them to William, who counted them and put them in the cash register.

            "Have a nice day, young lady."

            "You too." Lily called, thoroughly satisfied as she walked out of the store.

            "See." She told James, who immediately put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "I told you I wouldn't be long. Let's go."

            "I really don't know what the problem is." Melody fumed, lying on her bed. The dying sun shone through the windows, casting a bright orange glow into the room as Melody rolled over to face Danielle, Nicola, and Alex.

            "I see where Lily's coming from though." Danielle said. "Something could have happened to you. You didn't know those boys, they could have very well been…rapists or something."

            "You're taking her side!" Melody shrieked. "Oh my God! She was just being stupid! It's really not that big a deal. They weren't dangerous,"

            "But you don't know that!" Danielle insisted.

            "Not everybody you don't know is going to so something bad to you, Lily is just paranoid." Alex said, agreeing with Melody. "I have to agree with them, cousin." Nicola said.

            "Look at how she acts with Derik," She went on. "I mean, just because their relationship didn't work doesn't mean he isn't the perfect gentlemen."

            "-Oh God." Danielle rolled her eyes. "Not this again."

            "No," Nicola went on, determined to be heard. "Seriously! He's never told me anything but the truth and you'll never guess what he told me about why he broke it off with Lily."

            "Lily broke up with him!" Danielle argued. "And we were all there."

            "That's not really why they broke up!" Nicola insisted. "They were broken up before that day in Diagon Alley; she just didn't want to admit it. He told me so." Alex and Melody leaned forward, interested while Danielle turned away sharply muttering: "I don't want to hear this rubbish."

            "Tell." Alex said, pulling her pillow under her into a more comfortable position. "Well," Nicola proclaimed dramatically, getting into gossip mode. "Lily had a modeling job over the summer. And after that, she was all hot shot, and Derik said he needed a little space, to get over the change in her, right?" Alex and Melody nodded.

            "But, instead of backing off, she showed up in his room one night and tried to get him to sleep with her. She said everything would get better if he slept with her. That's when he broke up with her."

            "Oh, you don't believe that trash!" Danielle exclaimed, whirling around wildly. "Of course, I do!" Nicola insisted, nodding her head surely. "Because Derik never lies to me."

            "You're an idiot!"

            "I am not! It's the truth, you see if it's not! Derik was going to get back together with her. He was breaking up with that girl we saw in Diagon Alley. That's why he kissed her, he was telling her goodbye. And he showed up on Lily's birthday to take her back, but she'd already decided she wanted James instead."

            "I don't believe you!" Danielle cried sitting up. "That's not even- oh my god."

            Melody, Alex, Nicola, and Danielle, stared as Lily stood calmly in the wide open doorway. "How long were you standing there?"

            "Long enough." Lily whispered, looking at Nicola with hurt in her glassy eyes.  When the first fat tear drop fell, Danielle rose off her bed. "I'm so sorry." She said.

            "No." Lily put a hand up, her voice coming out as a slight whimper. "Don't." She pushed the tear angrily off her face, still not moving from her post in the doorway. "I can't believe you would even consider me as that type of person. Thanks guys."

            "Look, Lily." Melody called, standing up. "I don't know about all that stuff with Derik, or whoever, but I do need to tell you-

            "You don't need to tell me anything!" Lily snarled. "You already told me, you don't think it was all that bad right? Well Josh wasn't treating **_you_** badly, but **_I_** had to put up with Michael grabbing **_my_** ass, and touching **_my_** chest when he thought no one was looking! **_I_** had to put up with him in the restaurant when he kept trying to slip his hand between my legs and **_I_** had to put up with him when he dumped water down the front of my shirt on **_accident_** so he could paw at my chest with a napkin because I didn't want to leave **_YOU_** with them by yourself. So, **_EXCUSE ME_** if I didn't want anything to happen to you and **_EXCUSE ME_** if I didn't want to be dragged somewhere and raped again!! I'm so selfish."

            She turned and fled down the stairs, pushing past Donna and Tracie and a handful of 7th years.

            "See what you've done!" Danielle cried. "Lily, wait!"

            The distressed girl ran all the way down the stairs, with Danielle on her heels until she collapsed against the wall outside of the portrait hole.

            Danielle sat down on the floor next to her and gently rubbed her back as she cried. "I'm sorry Lily." She murmured softly. "Really, I am."

            "What the hell did I ever do to anybody?" Lily wanted to know. "All I try to do is be nice to people and protect my friends and it doesn't do any good. It doesn't matter, because when you think about it, I don't really have friends, do I? I'm just someone for other people to use. I try to fix everybody's problems and nobody gives a damn about my own. I could die tonight, and nobody would even blink an eye. They'd go: ' Oops, oh well. Nobody liked her anyway. She was just here for our own amusement'-

            "Lily, you stop that right now!"

            "Why?" Lily shouted back. "It's the truth. It's like I can do no right by these people!" She threw her arm out, gesturing wildly towards the common room. "And I'm sick and tired of trying!"

            "So stop trying." said Danielle. "You can't please everybody Lily, so don't worry about them. Don't even talk to them until they apologize. They're just silly girls, you don't need them. You have James, and Sirius and Peter, and Remus and you have me."

            Lily gave her friend a grateful hug. "Thanks Danielle." She whispered. "I really mean it."

            "No problem." Danielle giggled, hugging her back. "That's what friends are for right?"

            Lily smiled. "Exactly. And you're a great friend Dannie."

            "You aren't so bad yourself Miss. Evans. So let's go back into the common room and show them what true Gryffindors are made of huh? Hold that head up and get rid of those tears. Let's see that Gryffindor pride!"

            Lily grinned and threw her arm across Danielle's shoulders. "You really know how to make people feel better, you know that?"

            The other Gryffindor shrugged. "What can I say, it's a gift."

            And  so, with Lily feeling much better, the two girls turned and crawled back through the portrait hole, climbed up to the sixth years girls dormitories, and prepared for bed, ignoring the rest of their roommates.

            "Goodnight Lily." Danielle whispered from the bed next to hers. "Goodnight Dannie."


	20. It Starts

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Obviously! Don't you know any better by now!

            Chapter 20: It starts

            If the world was truly occupied by billions of people, I only have one question. Why? Why, out of all those billions of potential candidates, am I the one who's perceptibly and repeatedly targeted for such heinous happenings?

            Why couldn't it be someone more deserving? Like Lucius Malfoy? Or Derik Jones? Why me, little ol' Lily Evans who never did anything but try to please the world. I tell you, someone up there must really hate me.

            What about any of those lovely Slytherins who walk around on top of the world, torturing the weak and innocent? Why not this Voldemort person who was attacking poor muggles who were ignorant of him and our world?

            And while all of these people deserve such harassment, I am fairly sure that I do not. I simply live one day to the next and try to get on without many problems…but no; not only is my life not normal by muggle standards, but it is also far from typical lives of those in the magical community as well. Aren't I the lucky one?

            Shoot me now.

After my little talk with Danielle, I have to admit; I didn't really feel much better. Well I felt better until we went to bed. Then I began to doubt. I am ashamed to have to say I doubted myself and doubly ashamed to have to admit that I doubted the friendships I had with Alex and Melody as well.

            Now I ask you: Does that make me a bad person? Am I wrong for feeling as though the bonds I thought I had with the two girls were either severed…or perhaps never there to begin with?

            I feel awful for thinking this, really I do. Alex had been an off and on friend to me since first year, until I invited her to my fifteenth party just to be nice and we became sort of close.

            Melody had been a friend to me almost as long as James had, which is why I really feel rotten for doubting the bond between us. We went to day care together, to kindergarten, and grade school up until I went to Hogwarts and she (unbeknownst to me) went to Beaxbatons. All those four years that we went to two different schools, we wrote to each other and both attended dance camp and Chorus over the summers.

            …And now this mess. I really truly don't know what to do. I thought of Melody as one of my best friends and I was beginning to think of Alex as one too, despite the fact that she never manages to hold her tongue about the worst things around me, and…and then I walk up the stairs, anticipating a good nights rest and preparing to apologize to Melody for possibly (stress on the possibly) over reacting about the boys in the city, and there they all were…bashing me. And Danielle was the only one, I repeat, the ONLY ONE sticking up for me.

            Let me take the time out to explain something to you…at first, I was very, and I do mean VERY reluctant on apologizing to Melody. It wouldn't be so stubborn about it if the boys really were harmless. I would have said I'm sorry and dropped the subject…end of story. But she just doesn't understand. Michael HARASSED me. How hard is that too understand? Putting your hands on someone who is unwilling to be touched in…wait…let me take another approach to this.

            I have a boyfriend, a boyfriend who was not with me when Melody and I met Josh, Michael and their two friends. Melody supposedly knew enough about Josh to like him after a few minutes of flirting with him. Well, bully for her, okay? Josh was flirting with her and she responded positively.

            Michael advanced on me several times, and not only did I respond with as much of an attitude as possible, but I told him, I was already in a relationship and I made it perfectly clear that I didn't want his hands on me when he put his arm around my shoulder that first time.

            Any other guy, any DECENT guy would back down after that, but what did Michael do? He smacked me on the butt. Oh yeah, that's really decent. I'm not stupid, I know I'm…a little…I was always a little top-heavy for my age as a child.

            You don't need to tell me that. And I am quite aware that it attracts a lot of attention from the male populace who can't and won't keep their wondering eyes under control.

            Males; some males, or rather jerks, automatically assume that if there's a female body part in front of them that's it's okay to grab it, regardless of how the owner of such parts feels about being pawed at. Michael was very much one of those people, and unwanted contact is harassment.

            Trust me on this; it was unwanted.

            But did Melody get that? No. Call me crazy, but I think she thought it was cute. She might be one of those people who think it shows that a guy likes you or thinks you're hot when he smacks you on the ass.

            Call me old fashioned, but I don't like that. As a matter of fact I hate that. I couldn't concentrate on shopping, because I was concentrating on swatting Michael's hand away from my butt. I couldn't eat lunch because I was trying to keep the pervert from sliding his hand between my legs.

            By then, any person with an ounce of decency within their bones would get their friend out of there, no? But not Melody. She sat there and smiled cheekily at me while I smacked his hands away.

            I have never been so embarrassed in all my life. Josh was the only one that was at least _trying_ to help me. That's when he decided that maybe they should go, but not before Melody traded addresses with Josh so they could write and have Mel's mom forward the letters.

            And after sitting through all this degradation so Melody could throw herself at a guy who she would probably never see again, I was still willing to apologize and put myself in the wrong, when I knew it was the other way around.

            And she was the ringleader of the 'Bash-Lily-Session'. What great friends I have. I'd thought that I put it into perspective for her when I'd yelled at her before I ran out of the common room.

            Apparently I'd only pissed her off instead, because she woke me up by dumping ice water on my head, despite the frigid weather. I looked around wildly, before I actually felt the freezing water on my skin and jumped up.

            Melody, Tracie, Donna, Alex, and Nicola were all up, sitting in their beds and laughing at me. Yes, even Alex was laughing at me as I screamed. Let me tell you something; you never EVER want to know what it's like to have every one in the room against you. It's a horrible feeling.

            Danielle came running out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth, trying to figure out who had screamed. Angry now, because I had realized what had happened, I just stomped past her, holding my wet shirt away from my skin and I turned on the hot water in one of the shower stalls.

            What a wonderful way to start the day, I tell you. I wake up drenched in ice-cold water and I had about twenty minutes to get to charms because I took an extra long shower to get the chill off my bones.

            I was the only person in the dorm as I scrambled around to get dressed and I was the very last person out of Gryffindor Tower and had to run all the way to the Charms classroom.

            I made it a few minutes before the bell rang, along with a few Hufflepuffs and I walked right past my seat next to Alex, snatching my bag that Danielle had brought down for me off the desk and nearly tripping over the foot that Donna had stuck out.

            "Real mature." I muttered as I sat in the empty row of desks in the very back of the class. I see Sirius watching me out of the corner of my eye and I gave him a small wave.

            Okay, I didn't pay attention in class. So what?  And I didn't pay attention in Transfiguration either; there were more important things on my mind…or at least…there were before I started dozing off and my mind kind of went all fuzzy.

            "Lily? Lily, wake up."

            "Huh?" Somebody was shaking me. "Wake up."

            "Ooh." I moaned. "Stop. Stop, stop, stop."

            I cracked my eyes open and found myself blinking up at James, Sirius, Peter and Remus. "What do you want?"

            "You fell asleep during class, sleepy head." Remus said, ruffling my hair. "It's time for lunch."

            Well, all I have to say is damn Melody. Damn Melody to hell! Well maybe not to hell, but damn her to the Slytherin Common Room, which is close enough.

            I've never been sick in my life, now look at me. I'm trapped in the Infirmary with a stuffy nose and a horrible taste in my mouth from all the potions Pomfrey has forced me to intake.

            According to her, my fever still hasn't broken and at an all time high of 110, let me just say this: If I die, I will haunt my so-called friends in this life and the next.

            I hate being sick! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I've been in here for four bloody days and Pomfrey says it doesn't look like I'll be getting out anytime soon. Oh joy. Sirius says I should be happy to miss class but I'd rather be there than here any day.

            There's nothing to do in here. At least in class there are other people to talk too. Besides the occasional student who's had an accident in class, there's absolutely no one to converse with except the walls. It's so dull in here even Pomfrey doesn't stay all the time, she just checks on me occasionally.

            "Miss. Evans, you have a visitor." Pomfrey called around the corner. "Finally." I said, as the nurse moved aside to let them in. "I thought you guys would never come…"

            Well, it wasn't the guys after all…it was Melody all by her lonesome. "You look like hell." She said when the nurse had left again. "Thanks to you." I replied, turning over and giving her my back.

            "Look, Lils. If I had known it would make you sick, I wouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

            I closed my eyes, ignoring her. "I need to tell you something." She said after a while, after the silence grew unbearably uncomfortable for her. "There's this rumor about you going around. The Marauders didn't tell you because they didn't want you to hear it…they've been trying to stop people from repeating it…but Nicola and I…we think you should know."

            I flipped slowly back over, giving her my attention without saying a word. She went on. "Well…you see. When we fighting the other day…and you were yelling at me…and you said you hadn't wanted to be raped…_again_."

            I let out a slow breath. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I did say that didn't I. Oh hell. "Well…um…now there's a rumor going around that…that"

            "Spit it out!"

            "That you were raped…"

            For all I was worth, I tried not to let any emotions show through my expression; really I did, because Melody was studying my face carefully. Though the expression on her own face was not overly concerned, or even concerned at all, but curious instead.

            I stared at her fixedly, not blinking, not breathing, not breaking eye contact with her, and very slowly I opened my mouth to speak. "You didn't come because you thought I should know." I said confidently, and hurried on as Melody opened her mouth to say something. "Because you're still mad at me. You're here to find out whether or not it's the truth."

            Melody promptly shut her mouth, opened it again, and asked: "What would make you _say_ such a thing?"

            "I could see it in your eyes, Melody. I can hear it in your pulse, and I can smell it in the air. I've gotten quite good at it actually, detecting lies I mean. I've had quite a lot of practice since we all started fighting."

            It was a technique Mack taught us, though he couldn't do it himself. We didn't even have to try hard, and after a while it became natural. Well it became natural to me at least, because I did it so much. I'm proud to say the other four have to work at this, while all I have to do is merely be in the same room with a liar. Could come in handy, you know?

            I could stop at any time, but why? Its fun letting people know, you know that they're lying. Makes them sweat a bit.

            "I think, maybe you're just a bit confused because you're sick." Mel suggested; a bit flustered. "Could be." I shrugged, letting her have her little worthless victory. I wanted her to relax again, so I could see where she was going with this. Her pulse slowed just a little bit as I eyed her a little less fiercely.

            I turned my gaze up towards the ceiling and held back a cough, and nobody said anything for a long time. And then I dropped the million-galleon question on her. "Why couldn't you have been direct with me?  Why lie and sneak and try to read me instead of being honest and just asking me what you wanted to know?"

            I could see Melody look down at the floor out of the corner of my eye.

"Because I didn't think you'd tell me."

            She's right, I wouldn't have. But I'm sick of everybody's games. "Try me." I said.

            "Okay…Um…Lily? Those rumors aren't true are they?"

            There was not an ounce of contempt or anger or sarcasm in my voice, in fact I was perfectly calm when I said: "That's none of your damn business."

            My dear friend got immediately aggravated. "Argh!" She cried, ignoring the 'No Shouting' rule of the hospital wing. (And Now I know why that rule is in existence. All that noise gave me a splitting headache!) "See, Lily! That's why we don't try to talk to you! You're so _fucking rude_!"

            "Don't shout at me!" I demanded, shouting myself, and climbing carefully, but swiftly out of my bed. "Well _MAYBE_ if you hadn't been such a cunt this past week-" I grabbed onto the rail at the foot of the bed to steady myself. "-And then put me on my damn deathbed-MAYBE I WOULDN'T BE SO RUDE MELODY!"

            Melody stepped so close to me that she was right in my face. I didn't back off, I couldn't have. I felt like I was so weak that if I moved away from the bed I'd keel over. I guess having a fever close to boiling temperature does that to you.

            "That's why nobody likes you now, Lily." She hissed in a low voice. "You have such a God awful temper and you're so mean to people that are only trying to help you. You're a bitch."

            "Well, you've been my friend since we were four. What does that say about _you_?" I asked her. I could feel the floor somehow sway, taking me with it and the next thing I know…my back touches the cold marble and then all I saw was black.

            "Lily? Lily, doll can you hear me?" A deep voice cut through the darkness. I groaned. My head was splitting in two different directions. "I know that voice." I murmured. The voice chuckled. "I should hope so, after all these years. Can you open your eyes for me?"

            My head rolled to the side a couple of times before my eyes cooperated with me. They opened slowly, and revealed a very blurry world, that was inch, by inch, slipping into recognizable color splotches.

            There were a group of people standing over me; one with shoulder length red hair, one with glasses and short scruffy black hair, one with long white hair, another with a hat on her head and another with glasses and hair pulled back.

            A moment later, they were revealed to be James's parents, Dumbledore, Pomfrey, and McGonagall.

            "I'm dead aren't I?"

            "No, Miss. Evans. You're still, very fortunately with the living." Dumbledore assured me, a smile on his face. I hadn't even realized I'd spoken out loud.

            "Wh-why's everybody here?" I asked. "And where's Melody?"

            "Melody?" Sirena repeated. "Yes. She, she was in here a while ago."

            "There was no one in here but you, doll." Tyler said, a crease in his brow. "Great."

            "I heard she's still in the hospital wing."

            "Yes, but it's nothing fatal. She'll be out and back in class tomorrow."

            "You don't sound too happy about that. Something wrong?"

            "No. Well, Yes."

            "Tell me."

            "It's just that. Nobody in my dorm is getting along with her right now. Well, nobody except for my cousin. She's been a real problem. A real pain. We haven't had to deal with that for almost three weeks, and now that she's getting out of the hospital wing and back into classes…"

            "Do you want me to take care of her for you?"

            "What? You mean like, talk to her? No offense, but I don't think she'd listen to you."

            "No, baby, she wouldn't. I didn't mean talking to her anyways. There's no talking to that girl, you know that."

            "You…you wouldn't hurt her would you? ………Would you!"

            "It wouldn't hurt…for long… …Oh, relax! I was just kidding. Really! Don't look at me like that! I was teasing you."

            "Don't talk like that! I wouldn't want you to get hurt or into trouble because you did something outrageous like that. What would I do without you if you got expelled."

            "I wouldn't get expelled, because I wouldn't get caught. Ouch! Okay already, I was kidding."

            "Well, don't kid like that. I have to go, or I'll be late for class. I'll see you at lunch alright."

            "Sure thing. At lunch."

            "Love you."

            "Love you too. Bye."

"Bye." I watched her go with a smile. It really wouldn't be a bad idea to try and get the insufferable girl out of everyone's hair would it? And who says anyone has to know? She'll be gone and nobody will know who did it. It's a brilliant plan if I do say so myself.

            And wouldn't you love to see the look on her little face when I catch her? It'll be priceless. And I could do it before Christmas…It'll be a great present.

            Yes, I think that's what I'll do! I just have to put it all together carefully. Maybe I'll skip classes today so I can plan it out; the dorm will be empty. Hmm. And they say Hufflepuffs are dumb. Hah!

            Just you wait Baby, I'll give you something to be proud of your man for!

A.N. Sighs I didn't really like that chapter. Oh well. The next chapter is almost done, so keep an eye out. I love you guys!! Keep reviewing, I want to know what you think!    
  
Clearbrook


	21. We'll Tell The Truth

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. How many times do I have to repeat myself with you people? Honestly, sometimes you lot are so slow! Just kidding…I love you guys.

Chapter 21: We'll Tell The Truth

            "How does it feel to be back amongst civilization, Lily?" Rachel Townsend asked the red haired Gryffindor on her first day back in classes. Lily smiled happily at her Ravenclaw friend. "It feels wonderful! I'm so happy to be around other people and see something else besides white walls, and white sheets."

            Rachel smiled, swiping her short brown hair off of her face. "How was it? Dealing with Pomfrey for two weeks?"

            "Aw, it wasn't so bad. The worst of it was just having nothing to do, and not being able to get up! I have so much energy, I don't know what to do with it all."

            Rachel giggled. "I'm sure James can find something to do with all that energy, huh?" She teased, wiggling her eyebrows over the tops of her glasses.

            "Oh, you're terrible!" Lily laughed. "Come on, we need to get to Herbology."

            The two girls strolled leisurely along the corridors, still having plenty of time before the first bell rang. A few stragglers were the only others in the hallway besides the prefect and her golden haired friend.

            Three of them: Slytherin fourth years, and the fourth one: Derik Jones, whom took it upon himself to offer Lily and Rachel a little scare. He sped up casually and pinched them both hard on their bottoms.

            "Hey!" Lily yelled, and Rachel squealed. Both girls spun around, but Derik had already stridden past them, cackling. "Crazy blighter." Lily growled, rubbing her bum. "He pinched me hard!" Rachel gasped, her mouth opened in shock. "Who was that?"

            "Somebody that I made the mistake of going out with a very long time ago. The girls in Hufflepuff worship that nut."

            "Whatever for?" Rachel asked, still holding her bottom. "They think he's cute I guess." Lily said, shrugging. "Well I think he's mad!" The blonde girl explained. "That makes two of us." Lily agreed, nodding her head.

            They entered the green house and Lily groaned. James was sitting with Sirius, Remus was sitting with Danielle, Tracie and Donna were sitting together Alex was sitting with Peter, there was an empty seat between Melody and Nicola, and there were two empty seats together on the side where the Ravenclaws were sitting.

            "Can I sit on that side with you?" Lily asked Rachel, eyeing the empty seat between Melody and Nicola with distaste. "Of course!" Rachel said immediately, grabbing her arm. "Come on."

            Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you! For a second I thought I was going to have to sit between those two cows."

            "I thought you all were friends." Rachel said, sitting down with her bag on the floor. "I did too, but apparently they have different definitions for the word. In fact, the only person in my dorm that I'm on speaking terms with is Danielle."

            "You're kidding!" Rachel gasped. "You all seemed like such good friends!"

            "I thought so too." Lily said, gazing over at where Melody, Nicola, Tracie, Donna, and Alex were all talking happily. "I thought so too."

            "Well, what happened?" asked Rachel. Lily shrugged. "Honestly, I don't even know. Melody and I didn't exactly see eye to eye on something, and before I knew it, Alex, and Nicole, who I was already not talking to, took her side and things just sort of…blew out of proportion."

            "Why weren't you speaking-

            "Okay, class!" Professor Sprout entered the greenhouse with a huge smile in place, her hands placed firmly on her hips. I need a strong boy to help me. One who can climb a tree? Any takers?"

            The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth year boys all looked around at each other, before Sirius slowly raised his hand. "Ah, Mr. Black, thank-you." Sprout professed, before turning to look at the class again. "And now I need a strong girl."

            Nearly every girl raised her hand, all wanting an excuse to be near Sirius. Sirius noticed this and smirked, ignoring Alex's angry gaze. 'Yep.' He thought. 'I still got it.'

            Sprout laughed. "No fibs now. I really need a girl who's strong and willing to do this because they can, not because they want to follow Mr. Black. Don't forget, you also have to climb a tree."

            They girls all put their hands down, and Danielle, Rachel, and Lily laughed at them. Chuckling, Lily raised her hand. Sprout nodded at her, over the heads of the other students. "Are you sure Miss. Evans?"

            Sirius, Remus, James and just about everyone else, in the class turned to look at her. "Quite." Lily answered confidently. "Alright. Everyone please follow me. Bring your things."

            Sprout turned, and left the greenhouse, her students behind her, and walked over to two very tall trees that hadn't been there the day before. She directed Lily and Sirius to each stand next to her, and they followed her directions, smirking across the way at each other.

            "Now, listen." Sprout instructed, still smiling. She pointed to two very large flowerpots and said. "Evans and Black: You are to each pick one of these up, and carry them all the way to the trunk of these two trees. Then, you will attach them to that wooden basket attached to that rope there."

            The class turned to see a sort of pulley leading up to the very top of the tree, with a kind of basket on the other end.

            "These pots here are full of bulbs. What you are to do, is pull them to the top of the tree, once you get them in the baskets and replace all the old bulbs that are on the branches, with the new bulbs in the pot. There are the exact number of bulbs so you have to plant them all, no tools, except for the blade I'm going to give you to remove the bulbs with."

            She looked carefully at Lily once more as she said. "The first one to get all their bulbs planted correctly, and gets back down on the ground, gets 15 extra credits on the next exam-and it will be a hard one. Originally I wanted to have one person from each class, but since none of the Ravenclaws wanted to have a go at it, we're going to do this.

            Everyone is going to pick someone to root for. If you've sided with the winner you get ten extra credits on the exam. If not…too bad for you dears. Once again I ask you Miss. Evans; do you want to do this?"

            Lily grinned at Sirius. "Absolutely." She said.

            "Alright then." Sprout said, hands on her hips again. "Every one, pick a side." Immediately, more than half the class migrated towards Sirius, who smirked at his 'sister'. "Last chance to back out, Lils."

            "Fat chance." Lily scoffed, as Rachel came to stand beside her, and then Danielle. Lily looked over at James. "Traitor." She said. James grinned at her. "Sorry, but Padfoot is a bit more…muscled and trained from Quidditch."

            "So, I'm weak, because I'm not built like he is?"

            "Weak? No. Weaker than he is? Yes. And besides, I need those ten credits." Lily rolled her eyes.

            "Ah, don't worry about them Lils." Danielle said. "They'll all feel stupid when you, Rachel, and I get those points."

            "Exactly." Rachel said. "Well!" Sprout cut in. "I thought it would be a classic girls-against-boys. But it seems like Miss. Evans's team is slightly short-sided.

            "Story of my life." Lily muttered. "Alright." Sprout called loudly. "Evans! Black! Give me your wands and go stand by your flowerpots…and you might want to take off your cloaks and sweaters. It's mighty warm up there. When I say 'Go', pick up your pots and start towards the tree.

            "GO!" Both students picked up the flowerpots with agility. This surprised Sirius slightly as Lily stayed next to him all the way to the tree trunks. She didn't falter not once as they put the pots into the baskets.

            "GO LILY!" Rachel shouted, cupping her hands to be heard over all of the students cheering Sirius on. Both of them stood back, trying to figure out how to climb up the tree, as there was only one branch even low enough for them to reach.

            Just as Sirius pulled the knife out of his pot, Lily jumped and grabbed hold of the lowest branch with her gloved hands.

            The two were neck and neck. Sirius dove his knife into the tree and used it to pull himself up, while Lily pulled herself up, until she was standing on the sturdy branch. Then she did something that shocked everyone back on the ground.

            She launched herself at the next branch, and started swinging back and forth until she'd spun in a full circle. Then, after she'd gained momentum, she let go, and grabbed onto the next branch that had been an impossible height up.

            She continued launching herself up, until she stood on the platform at the near top. She looked around for the rope and spotted it just above her head. Just as she began to pull her pot up, Sirius reached his platform.

            "You're like a bloody squirrel." He grunted, beginning to pull his own pot upwards. Both were sweating as they set their pots next to them on the platform and reached for their bulbs.

            Lily pulled all of the old bulbs out first, and tossed them onto the platform before she started in on the new ones.

            "Who's winning?" Remus asked, craning his neck to see the top of the tree. "I can't tell." James muttered. "It's got to be Sirius." Melody said. "Lily isn't strong enough to lift that thing all the way up there faster than him. Is she?"

            "Nah." Peter said. "Look!" Rachel cried, pointing up. "They're both done at the same time! But Lily isn't going anywhere."

            True, Sirius was a quarter of the way down the tree, coming down just the way he came up; by digging his knife into the trunk for support and then letting his feet carefully find a foothold.

            But Lily couldn't figure out how to get down without hurting herself, except to…Well, to take her shirt of and use it to slide all the way down. It would have to do; there was no other way. She took her white Oxford shirt off quickly; exposing the black wife beater she'd worn underneath, and looped it around the trunk.

            "Here goes nothing." She muttered as she closed her eyes and jumped off the platform. She heard a scream as she slid swiftly down the trunk, bypassing Sirius. She felt the hem of her skirt fly up to her armpits, and thanked any and every God that she had worn shorts underneath. The wind beat at her face until she was all the way down with her feet planted firmly on the ground.

            "Well done!" Rachel shouted, and Lily opened her eyes. Rachel and Danielle were grinning and hugging her and she looked up to see Sprout smiling and pointing her wand at the branch that had broken when her shirt broke through it on her way down.

            Sirius touched down a minute later, and he was looking at her with shock. "I can't believe you just did that!" he cried. "All I saw was a big blur I thought you had fallen out of the tree!"

            Lily smiled at him and then at all the other students, her were staring at her with expressions to beat Sirius's. "Now, who says I can't do anything I put my mind to?" she teased.

            "Well put Miss. Evans. Very well put." Lily whirled around to see Professor McGonagall standing next to Sprout, where she hadn't been noticed before. "Oh! Um, thank you, Professor." Lily said, accepting her robe from Danielle, and quickly putting it over her shoulders.

            "You're quite welcome." McGonagall smirked. "I'm just glad you were, ah, properly attired under your robes, hmm?"

            Lily grinned at that, and wiped sweat away from her brow with the back of her hand. "So am I Professor." The herbology teacher came forward with two huge chocolate bars in her hand. With a "Well done", she gave one each to Lily and Sirius. "We can get on with our lesson now that I've had my bushes redone for me."

            "Huh?" Sirius questioned as both the professors chuckled. McGonagall waved her wand and both the huge trees shrank down to bushes, no taller than Lily's calves. Lily couldn't help it…she laughed. "Well!" scoffed Sirius. "I feel used."

            It was midnight, and very many of the sixth year Gryffindors were still awake. It was Friday, so there weren't classes the next day to wake up early for, but that didn't mean that there wasn't homework to complete.

            James, Sirius, And Remus all sat around talking, while Danielle, Peter, and Lily all sat at another table, completing their homework.

            "Hey, what's up with all the girls fighting?" Sirius asked, stretching out lazily on the floor. "I mean. They don't sit with each other, they don't talk to each other except to say something rude…"

            "You know how girls are." Remus said, shrugging. "They probably just got into an argument over something stupid and now nobody wants to apologize first."

            "Well, Melody, and Nicola, most likely. And maybe Alex, but Danielle doesn't quite seem the type to get involved in the middle of such silliness." James observed; throwing a beanbag he'd nicked from the charms lesson into the air and catching it again.

            "Lily either, come to think of it." Sirius said, rolling over onto his stomach. "But it couldn't have been a big fight or we'd have heard them screaming."

            James snickered. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He said. "They're always fighting about something or other up there. What do you think Moony?"

            "I don't know." Remus shrugged, sinking down into the plushy armchair with a yawn. "None of their fights have ever been this long or this bad. But they _are_ girls and girls always have and always will argue about stupid things. Trust me on this. I have a little sister remember? She's only six, and she argues day and night with any and everybody. They just like to argue. And even if it is something big…we'll find out about it because they'll start shouting about it somewhere loud enough for everybody to hear them."

            Sirius shook his head. "If you say so Moony. But I'm telling you: My little sister doesn't do that. Who knows, it could just be because she's five, but she's very sweet tempered. And James is right. Danielle and Lily don't strike me as the type to argue over stupid little idiocies."

            "We'll find out soon enough." Remus said again.

            "Find out what soon enough?" Danielle asked, coming over and dropping her bag on the floor at Remus's feet. "Oh, nothing." James said nonchalantly, as Lily headed towards the stairs.

            "You're going to bed?" Danielle called to her. "Nah." She answered. "I'm just going to change and put my bag down. I'll be back in a bit."

            "All done with your homework?" Sirius asked, as Danielle situated herself in the chair with Remus, her legs thrown over his lap. "Every last bit of it." She answered with a sleepy yawn.

            Remus yawned too, and laid his head on top of Danielle's. "Don't you two look cozy?" Sirius observed. Danielle gave him a small half smile before she closed her eyes.

            No one really minded the silence that fell over the near empty common room. The teenagers, with the exception of Peter, who was still working furiously on his homework, were all either half asleep or already dozing anyway.

            Suddenly, Remus's eyes snapped open. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

            "Hear what?" Danielle murmured into his chest.

"That pounding."

"I hear it." James said.

           "And me." Put it Sirius. "Well, you guys have awesome hearing, because I don't hear a thing." Danielle said. James, Sirius and Remus all looked at each other. There was that pounding again, and they could hear someone whispering. What about, they didn't know.

            "Sounds like someone got locked out of their room." James observed. Sirius nodded. Suddenly whomever it was got tired of knocking on the door, and hissing for someone to let them in, and started swearing in…French?

            "Ah, that would be Lily." Remus said. "I told you all that fighting was getting stupid."

            "Danielle?" Lily's voice floated down the stairs. "Come up here for a second, please?"

            The three boys looked at each other again, as Danielle rose to see what was going on?

            "Lily what on earth-?" Danielle hissed when she saw her friend. "Please tell me you have your wand?" Lily pleaded. For some odd reason, she was standing out in the corridor in nothing but a towel, dripping wet.

            "It's in the dorm, what are you doing out here? Like that!"

            Lily slumped her shoulders, defeated. "Melody tricked me. She threw my ring out here and when I came to get it, she pushed me out and locked the door."

            Danielle rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous. I'll just go get one of the boys to come up and un-

            "No!" Lily said quickly. "They can't see me like this! I'll, I'll…I'll just unlock it myself."

            "Without your wand?" asked Danielle skeptically. Lily shrugged and put her hand next to the lock and whispered. "_Alohomora_." The lock glowed white and clicked, but the door still wouldn't open.

            "Damn her!" Lily grunted, kicking the door. "She put a sticking charm on the door!" She waved her hand violently, and the whole door flew off its hinges, scaring Melody, whose bed was directly in front of the entryway.

            "Real mature." Lily spat at her, and yanked some underwear, jeans and a long sleeved shirt out of her trunk. She went into the bathroom and changed, slamming the door behind her.

            "What the hell is going on up here?" Sirius's deep voice announced the arrival of he, James, and Remus; all three had wands out. "Lily blasted the door off." Melody said, smirking. " And without a wand too! So temperamental."

            "Well maybe if you didn't torment her so." Snapped Danielle.  Melody rolled her eyes, and Sirius and Remus shook their heads, muttering about not getting involved in silly fights as they walked back down the stairs and put their wands away.

            James went over and knocked on the bathroom door. "Go to hell." Lily answered vengefully. "Lily it's James," he spoke loudly to be heard over the arguing. "Let me in." He heard the lock click and pushed the door open.

            Lily was sitting on the farthest sink with her feet on the wall next to her. She glanced at him, before turning her gaze back to the wall. James looked her over quickly. She had on a pair of jeans, a belt, socks and shoes, her bra, but no shirt.

            He gulped slightly as he walked over to her. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

            Lily turned to look at him again, her eyes red. "I'm tired of it." She said sullenly. "Tired of being tormented and picked on. It's sounds childish, I know, but it's the truth…Melody locked me out in the hall when I had nothing but a towel on, did you know that?"

            "She did that?" James asked, a little put off as he came closer. Lily nodded. "They've been at it for almost a month, she and Nicola. Alex isn't as bad though. She laughs some times but she doesn't actually pull any of the pranks."

            "Pranks?" James asked. She nodded again, laid her head to rest on his chest, and put her hands on his sides. "They've hexed my food, my bed, my clothes, put itching powder in my gloves, and my scarf."

            "Why would they do that?" Asked James. He put his hands on either of her thighs and shifted to stand between her knees. "Nicola does it because she's just like that, and Melody because she's angry at me because I got mad at her for letting that guy-." She stopped, unsure of how much she should tell James.

            Did she really want to let him know about that stupid boy? It had been so long ago. Weeks ago. Did it even matter? "Lily," James tilted her face up so that she was looking at him. "What guy? Did somebody do something to you? Did he hurt you? Because-."

            "No, he didn't hurt me." Lily muttered darkly. James let out a breath; "He just couldn't keep his hands to himself."

            "Explain." James ordered. "Like, now." Lily sighed. "That day we snuck out, and McGonagall said you all had the day off, these guys came into the jewelry store we were in. One of them started flirting with me, and another one started flirting with Melody, and she flirted back. After I paid for my bracelet, I was ready to leave, but she wanted them to walk with us, I said no, but she kept begging so I gave in.

They were all walking ahead so he lagged behind too and tried to put his arm around me. I told him to leave me alone and he took that to mean 'do as you like'. Melody only laughed it off, and her little date was the only one who kept telling him to stop, and finally it got so bad that they had to leave and I wouldn't talk to Melody all the way back to Hogsmeade. I just don't understand it."

            "Don't understand what?" asked James, feeling a little less pleasant now. This was the second damned time she'd told him that somebody had put their hands on her. The second, and the last, time. Lily shook her head sadly. "You're male, tell me why guys keep…crossing lines with me."

            James hesitated. He couldn't believe she was actually asking him this question.

           What was he supposed to tell her? That every guy wanted her because she was the hottest thing on two legs? He settled for: "Because you're beautiful." Lily snorted. "What? You don't believe me?"

            "Not really." James pretended to ignore that sad statement. "Promise me you won't go out without me again."

            "What?" Lily lifted her head up. "Promise me you won't leave on your own or with just another female again. Take Sirius, Remus, or I, or all of us with you, or at least a better friend with better judgment." Lily snorted again.

            "Lily, I'm serious. If guys keep getting it in their heads that they can take advantage of you, I want you around someone that can keep you safe, or at the very least someone with enough sense not to throw you in the middle of it. What if next time they try to go farther than that? I-

            "Okay." Lily cut him off. "I promise."

            "Thank you."

            Lily put her head back on his chest, and gripped the cloth of his shirt, pulling him closer. "Give me a hug." She commanded. "I can't do that." James's voice was pain-filled. "Why not?" Lily asked sharply, her face buried in his front. "Because you're not wearing a shirt."

            She stilled, not breathing, not moving except to clutch more tightly at James's shirt. "I'm not?" She asked slowly, muffled. She could feel his chest rumbling with laughter before she heard him. "No, baby. You're not." He chuckled.

            "Aw shit."

            James laughed harder, and plucked her shirt off another sink. "Here."

            "Stop laughing." Lily groaned, accepting the shirt and quickly pulling it over her head. "It isn't funny."

            "I know it isn't." James said, swooping down to kiss her nose. "You might have told me I was only sitting here in my bra." Her face was slowly turning red.

            "I thought you knew." James explained. "And I was trying to ignore the fact." He caught sight of her cherry colored face. "Oh what are you embarrassed for?"

            She lowered her head. "You're smart, figure it out." She muttered. "There's no reason for you to be embarrassed." James told her. "And were you planning on going somewhere?"

            "Huh?"

            "Well normally when people change their clothes at 12 o'clock at night," he explained. "They change into pajamas, not jeans and their trainers."

            "Oh that." Lily said. "I _was_ going to take a walk outside…but now I think I'll just sit down in the common room for a while."

            "You aren't sleepy?" James asked her. Lily shook her head. "I'm too peeved to be sleepy."

            The sun rose slowly the next day, and the new morning came to reveal Lily Evans still sitting down in the common room, alone, staring almost fixedly, into the remains of last nights fire. Not even seeing the confrontation that could have been avoided if she'd seen her roommate walking down the stairs.

            "What's the matter Lily?" Melody taunted softly. "Still upset about yesterday? It's a pity no one saw you. Would've been great fun." Lily's gaze snapped away from the fireplace and onto Melody so fast that the girl started.

            "What do you want?" She asked. Melody stalked over and sat in the chair across from her, ignoring the chess set on the table between them from where Lily had played chess with Remus the night before.

            "You want to know what I want?" she asked, her voice low. "I believe that's what I said." Lily replied. Melody ignored her. "What I really want?" She leaned across the table, and grabbed Lily's braid, wrapping it around her hand and pulling it, and Lily along with it, until she could whisper in her ear.

            "I want to break you." She hissed. "I want to see you fall down and crumble. This isn't over Lily. This is only the beginning. We won't stop until you beg us to."

            Lily scoffed, wrenching her hair out of the girl's grasp and sitting back in her chair. "What are you gonna do? Pull more childish pranks? Dye my hair? Change my skin colors? Spread rumors and lies?"

            Melody shrugged. "I might. I have to admit, I hadn't thought about rumors, and you've just given me a lovely idea. In fact, you've just given me exactly what I needed to really hurt you."

            Lily snorted, briefly thinking that she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "You couldn't possibly hurt me anymore than you already have by turning on me in Hogsmeade. Spread all the rumors you want. I don't care. I don't care if the whole school believes them. **_I'll_** know they aren't true, and everyone who matter will know they aren't true. You'll actually be doing me a favor by showing me who's petty enough to believe you. So do what you want Melody. Do your worst. But, I promise you, it's all for naught…it won't effect me."

            "We'll see." Melody replied standing. "We'll see. Come on Nicola."

            She motioned to the other girl, who Lily hadn't noticed standing by the girls' staircase, and the two of them left the tower.

            "So what are we going to do?" Nicola asked Melody as the two headed towards an empty classroom to talk. "Are we going to spread a lot of nasty rumors about her and wait for her to break down?"

            Melody shook her head. "Nah. I know Lily, and she's right. Rumors won't bother her at all."

            "So what will we do then?" Nicola repeated.

"We're going to tell the everybody the truth."

            "What truth?" Nicola followed her friend into an empty classroom.

            "We're going to find out something about her that she doesn't want anyone to know, not even her precious James. And then we'll find a way to tell the whole school all at once, so that everybody hears it."

            "And how are we supposed to pull off something like that? Its not like she'll tell us anything. If it was really something that no one knew about her, than nobody's going to know, and nobody's going to be able to tell **_us_**."

            "I know that," said Melody.

            "So how are we going to find out?"

            "Snape."

            "Snape?"

            "Yes Snape."

            "As in Severus Snape?"

            "Yes Nicola."

            "What's he got to do with anything?"

            "Haven't you heard? Our Snape is quite skilled at Occlumency."


	22. The Countdown

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. I'm getting really tired of explaining this to you guys.

Chapter 22: The Countdown

            "Did you even go to bed?" Sirius asked, watching the red haired girl he'd called his sister for 5 and a half years as he made his way down the boys' staircase.

            Lily shook her head. "Nope." She said softly.

            "Have you even moved from that spot all night?"

            "Nope."

            "Lily, Lily, Lily." Sirius plopped down next to her and dropped his head in her lap. Lily smiled down at him and pushed his hair out of his face. "You're going to look like a zombie if you keep going on like this."

            "Padfoot, Padfoot, Padfoot." Lily mocked him. "It's Saturday. I have all day to go to sleep if I get tired."

            "I like that attitude." Sirius agreed, yawning. "Why are you even up this early?" Lily asked, looking down at her watch. "I have no idea." Sirius said. "What time is it anyway?"

            "Time for you to get a watch." She suggested, smirking to herself. "I will, eventually."

"You've been saying that for a year." Lily told him. "Well, how about you get me one for Christmas, since you want me to have one so bad." He teased back.

            "Maybe I already have." She said. "Yeah, okay." Sirius yawned again. "Maybe you should go upstairs and go back to sleep." Lily suggested. "Nah, I'm comfortable." He replied, smirking. Lily rolled her eyes. "I bet you are." She said, and she reached down to rub his left temple in small circles with one hand.

            "I used to visit my Nana when I was little," she explained. "I love my Nana so much, and I was so excited about being in her house, I couldn't sleep sometimes. So I would walk around her house at night, just exploring, and she would be sitting in her rocking chair, crocheting in front of the fire.

            She'd say: 'Little Lilialana, what are you doing out of bed so late, couldn't you sleep?' without even looking up. And I'd shake my head and go 'No, Nana.' She would look at me, and smile, and put her stitching down and go over to sit on the couch, and pat the space next to her.

            I was so happy to be close to her, I'd run over to her and put my head in her lap, and stretch out on the couch. She'd tell me stories and sing to me, sometimes in English, sometimes in French, and rub my head until I fell asleep. And she would move once I was asleep and put a pillow under my head and a blanket over me. And she'd go back to her rocking chair and her stitch-work, and when she went to bed, she'd call her dog to come and sleep on the floor just under me." She broke off, smiling from the memories.

            "Have I ever met your Nana?" Sirius asked sleepily. "No. But I'll take you and the boys to meet her someday; you would love her. She's the nicest person, and has a wonderful sense of humor. She'd love to hear about all the pranks you guys pull.

            She has a house in Ireland, and a house in France, and a house in America with Papa, you'll love him too, and when I used to visit her, we'd go to all three in one visit. She taught Robbie, Petunia, and I to speak French. Oh she loved anything French! Sometimes I think she wishes she was born French rather than Irish, but then she was so proud of her Irish heritage!" She paused to chuckle at a memory.

            "Once, when we were at the house in France, I was being stubborn about something my dad was trying to get me to do, and he'd gotten mad and said: '**_See, mom! That's that horrible Irish stubbornness in her._**'" She imitated his gruff voice, laughing, and Sirius chuckled.

            "And she picked up the broom and walloped him hard with it around the ears, and he left me alone after that. It was hilarious!"

            "I can't imagine anyone hitting your dad with a broomstick." Sirius observed. "How come you don't visit anymore? Your Nana I mean?"

            Lily stopped laughing and sighed. "You know how my mother is. When she found out I was a witch, she forbid to come to Hogwarts. She was already ticked about Robbie graduating, and didn't want me to be, and I quote "some freak" like he was, and my Dad wouldn't fight her decision, so I called my Nana, and she came all the way from Ireland to have a big row about it with my parents, and we all found out that she was a witch then, and Papa was a wizard, in the Ministry in Ireland actually, and my mother locked me in my room, saying that I wouldn't go to Hogwarts and that was final.

            Nana apparated into my room and told both my parents I was going to Hogwarts whether they liked it or not, and marched me right out of the house. And my mother stood on the front porch and screamed at her, yelling that if she left the house with me she was never welcome back.

            I'll never forget what they had said to each other that day. My Nana spun around and said: 'Fine. I know when I'm not welcome and I'd rather not visit a house where the people who live inside it are prejudiced against me and two of my favorite grandchildren because there's magic in their blood that they can't help'."

                        "What did your dad do?" Sirius asked. "He just let his mum leave like that?"

            "Yeah." Lily said. "He always was whipped." Sirius snorted. "Okay, so anyways. Nana just kind of glared at my dad as she walked past him and we got into the car she'd driven, and Nana drove us to the train station.

            I remember being upset because I thought I was never going to see her and Papa again. I sat really close to her, and held her hand the whole way. And I remember her telling me, 'It's okay Lilialana. Maybe your father will let you come and see us during the holidays anyway.' And I cried even harder and told her; no he wouldn't because he always did everything Rose told him too.

            At the train station she hugged me and said that even if I never saw her again until I moved out of my parents' house, we could still write. I haven't seen her or Papa since. We all still write though. And they're going to be here for my graduation."

            "Wow." Sirius said. Lily smiled softly. "Yeah. Wow about sums it up."

            "How are we going to get him to help us?" Nicola asked. They were in the Great Hall now, watching Severus Snape over their breakfast. "It's actually quite easy." Melody admitted, finishing off her toast. "We bribe him. We offer to pay him, do something for him, and if that doesn't work, we tell him how much it will hurt people he hates, we offer him illegal potions ingredients or blackmail him. He's a Slytherin one of those has to work. If not, he's in the wrong house."

            "Why should I do anything for you?" The Slytherin boy demanded calmly. "Aren't you brave enough to do your own dirty work? Where's that famed Gryffindor courage?"

            "Don't tease Severus." Melody replied lazily. "It's beneath you."

            "You haven't answered my question." He countered. "Why should I do anything for you?"

Melody rolled her eyes. "Because there's something in it for you. At first, I figured we can just pay you, but then I thought: You're from a wealthy family, what do you need my money for?"

            "Well, well." Snape sneered. "A Gryffindor that uses common sense. A rarity indeed."

Melody pulled a clear bag out of her pocket and held it up for Snape to see.

            Snape's eyes widened. "Is that-

            "Yes. There's more where this came from and it's yours if you do this for me."

            Snape crossed his arm over his chest. "How much more exactly?"

            "A full pound and a half. A fair amount of your precious illegal dark potions you could make with that isn't there?"

            "Hmm." Snape said simply. "What do you want me to do?"

            "Glad you see things my way." Melody said, smiling. "It's quite simple really. I want you to crack into Evans' brain. I want you to search and find her deepest darkest secrets, ones that she'd never want found out."

            "I'm no mind reader." He protested. "No." Melody agreed. "But you do have extended knowledge and use of Occlumency."

            "How did you find out about that?"

            "Don't worry yourself with the details darling. Just do me this one teeny favor."

            "I don't like you." He growled, glaring at her.

            "You don't like any Gryffindor." Melody threw back. "Are you going to do it or not."

            Snape hesitated.

           "I won't do it." He said firmly.

            "What! Why not?"

            "Because I don't trust you. Why would you want to harm your own friend? I know you're going to use any information I give you against her. And besides, that mudblood's the only half decent one in your whole pitiful house. Her only major flaw is the fact that she keeps such idiots for her closest friends."

            "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on Lily."

            Snape ignored that comment. "And how do I know you aren't trying to lure me into some prank those idiot Marauders set up?"

            "Snape darling, you really are paranoid." Melody told him. "I'll up it to three pounds and give you my word that this had nothing to do with the Marauders, or any prank regarding you. No one will even know you're involved."

            "Fine." Snape agreed. "But you had better not try and get over on me."

            "Oh please, Severus. I gave you my word didn't I?" She threw the plastic bag at him. "I'll give you the three pounds when you've given me what I asked for. And remember. The deepest, darkest, most brutal secrets you can find."

            "I heard you the first time." Snape sneered. "Now get out of my sight."

            Melody smiled and nodded her head towards Nicola. "Come on Nicola."

            "Aw, isn't that sweet?" Remus sniggered, elbowing James as the two boys walked down the stairs. James followed Moony's gaze and snorted with laughter. "Go get your camera." He whispered.

            Remus disappeared into their dorm and came out a moment later, handing James his camera. Still, laughing slightly, James took a few pictures of the two on the couch.

            Sirius was half asleep with his head on Lily's lap while she played with his hair and told him a story. 

            The two boys walked the long way around so the two wouldn't see them and snuck up behind them. "How sweet." Remus said.

            Lily tilted her head back to see who was behind her and James kissed her on the lips.  "Hello." He said, smiling. "Did we miss story time?"

            "I was just telling Sirius about my grandparents." Lily explained. "Well how about we take a break and go get breakfast?" He murmured, pausing to kiss her lips again. "Come on Padfoot." Moony grabbed the dazed boys arms and hauled him to his feet. "Let's go, buddy."

            James pulled Lily to her feet and the four began the walk towards the Great Hall. "Where's everybody else?" Sirius asked. "Still sleeping." Answered Remus.  "Ah," Sirius nodded. "Lucky bastards."

            He watched the four of them enter the Great Hall with a sneer plain on his face. Just a week and a day more; eight more days and that little slut would suffer; eight more glorious days until she was out of his hair, and everyone else's hair for good.

            He already knew what he was going to do. It was fairly quick and effective. She wouldn't know what hit her. And then, when the job was done, he would drop her body where everyone could see it. Maybe on the Head table. Right on Dumbledore's plate at dinner, or maybe on the Gryffindor table, right in front of her boyfriend and her "brothers". Oh that would be fun, really fun.

             He'd truly love to see the look on their faces when that happened. Or maybe he would leave it in the corridors for everyone to find when they came out of their classes. No, that wouldn't work, because then, not everybody would see…

            Well maybe everybody didn't need to see the body. In fact, he could leave it in the corridor and just _wait_ for someone to find her. Ah well, he had a whole week left to decide.

TUESDAY [BEFORE CLASSES]:

            "Hey, Lil?" Danielle whispered, leaning across the Gryffindor table to whisper in her friends hear. "I think you have a few stalkers."

            "Huh?" Lily said, pushing a curl out of her face. She'd woken up late and didn't have time to re-apply the straightening potion to her hair. (She'd forgotten it was due to wear off and didn't make it) so her hair was very curly today, falling just past her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

            "Severus Snape and Derik Jones have been staring at you since you sat down!" Lily quickly glanced over Danielle's head. "Ugh. They've been doing that yesterday too! At lunch and dinner. It's like they've been trying to read my mind or something, because it feels like something's picking my brain."

            "Let's go to class then, they're freaking me out."

            "Okay." Lily agreed, glancing up once again to see Snape looking at her with his eyebrows raised, "Like he's just been given some juicy piece of information or something." She hissed, shouldering her bag and climbing over the bench.

            She kissed James on the cheek and Danielle did the same to Remus. "Where're you going?" He and James asked at the same time. "Don't talk with your mouth full." Danielle told Remus. Lily leant down close to her boyfriend's ear. "We're going to class early. I'll see you later okay?"

            "Why are you whispering?"

            "I don't know," She admitted. "It feels like someone's been listening or something." She shrugged it off. "I'll see you later, okay?"

            "Yeah."

            "You're late." Snape said, as Melody came out of the shadows. "Oh shut up." Melody snapped. "Let's get this over with.  Here." She handed him a canvas bag and he handed her a thick envelope. Without any more words from either parties, both stalked off in opposite directions.

            Melody skipped out on class and ran all the way up to her dorm. She plopped back on her bed, ripped the envelope open, and pulled out a thick sheaf of parchments. She scanned over them and her eyes glowed with delight.

            "Oh this **_is_** good!" She cried, hugging the papers, "Very good." She read them over and then packed them back up, deciding to head to lunch and get Nicola.

            She entered the Great Hall, all smiles, and plopped down in the seat next to Nicola, which just happened to be across from Lily. She tapped Nicola on her shoulder. "Hey!" she said brightly. "Uh, hi." Nicola said. "I've got to talk to you." Melody shot a meaningful look in Lily's direction. "Do you mind missing classes for the rest of the day?"

            "No."

            "Good. Come with me, I want to show you something."

            "Going to scheme some more?" Lily asked wryly. "Of course Lils!" Melody replied calmly. No one was listening to them. "Why? Are you afraid?"

            "Terrified." Lily said wryly. "In fact, I think I'll get on my knees right now and beg you not to plot against me."

            "You're going to be wishing you had done so soon, Evans, really soon."

            Lily pretended to shiver, her expression bored. "Ooh, she called me Evans again. I think I'm going to piss my pants from the embarrassment of it all. In fact, somebody call the nurse, I think I'm going to faint."

            "Real funny." Melody said. "Is that something you picked up from your boyfriend?"

            "Maybe." Lily shrugged. "And maybe I picked it up from you."

            "Oh I doubt that."

            "Do you now? Don't you have to go plot against me, or something? Why are you still here?"

            Sirius nudged Remus and James, motioning towards the two girls. "I'm talking to you Evans. I'd thought I'd take a few of my extra minutes and talk to you, aren't you glad?"

            "Spare me the honor." Lily snorted rolling her eyes.

            "Oh that's ladylike."

            "You've known me since I was four. When have I ever cared about seeming ladylike?" Lily demanded in an I-Don't-Care-What-You-Think tone.

            "Why don't we ask Derik that question?"

            Lily rolled her eyes, angry that somehow every time someone wanted to hurt her they brought up Derik. "You can ask that stupid fucker anything you'd like."

            "You would know what kind of fucker he is wouldn't you Evans?"

Lily lunged across the table, but three sets of hands grabbed onto her and pulled her back down in her seat. "Don't go there. Don't you dare!" She warned venomously, and then suddenly, very suddenly, she was perfectly calm. "You know what, never mind. Say whatever you want. Like I told you the other day. You can spread all the lies you want, I don't give a damn; because in the end, all the people who matter are the one's who wont believe you."

            "You say that now." Melody said, smiling. "You say that now. Come on Nicola." Lily glared at the two as they left, and Danielle, Sirius and Remus let go of her. "Stupid bi- Ugh!" she growled and snatched her bag off the floor.

            "I **_HATE_** this place!!" She slammed her hands on the table and got out of her seat, not stopping for anyone as she left the Great Hall through the side door.

            Sirius, James, and Remus all looked at each other. "I don't really think this is just some silly fight anymore." Sirius observed in a low voice.

            "Miss. Evans, is there a problem?" Catherine Wilkes, the Muggle Studies teacher watched the girl with interest as she stormed around the room, dropping her things in her seat, and following the instructions on the board by gathering her materials from the cupboards.

            "No Ma'am." She grunted, snatching a glass liquid measuring cup off the shelf and placing it on her desk. She then went to the big pantry and got out a large wooden spoon and a bag of flour.

            "Are we going to cook today or something?" She asked. Professor Wilkes nodded. "Yes, I did warn you it was coming. Remember?"

            "Yeah." Lily said. "Cooking what?"

            "Well that's supposed to be the fun part. You get to pick, or experiment. Something simple though, we wont do anything fairly difficult until Friday when we have double period."

            Lily shrugged, as the rest of the class began to file in and the bell rang. Wilkes sat back at her desk, monitoring how well they were following instructions. She hen told them to follow the directions in the cookbook, that she wasn't going to help them, and to be careful.

            The muggle-born student, Lily being the only one to have taken the class, set to work immediately. She picked a workstation, where a stove was transfigured into the counter, and flipped through the cookbook, deciding to pick a recipe that she was already familiar with; something she'd seen her Nana cook many times before…

            She poured the ingredients into the bowl and turned the "stove" on to preheat it. She didn't even bother to talk to, or help any of her classmates; few as there were.

            Nor did Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, Alex, Danielle, the two Ravenclaws, or the three Hufflepuffs talk to her. Those who didn't know she was angry were too busy trying not to set anything aflame.

            Wilkes looked on curiously, circling the class, monitoring their progress and asking them what they were making. "And what is this?" She came up beside Sirius who had a large glob of cream-colored mush in his bowl. "Well, it's supposed to be sugar cookies. Are they supposed to be so…thick?"

            "Just stir it a bit more." She told him, moving on to where Remus and Peter were playing with some sort of disaster. "It's uh, cheesecake?" Peter asked shrugging. "You tell me." Wilkes replied.

            As the class came to an end, she gave them all what she thought to be vital information. "Today, I left you to try and concoct deserts. Next time we do side dishes and the class after that, main courses. And the week after that you'll each be doing whole meals, meaning a main dish, two side dishes, and a desert. Consider this your warning. For those of you who are having difficulty with this lesson, I suggest you ask a muggle-born how it's done…because I **_will not_** be helping any of you. **_At all!_**"

            She smiled at the class's groans. "You may use magic to clean up your work areas, and take your-er-"dishes" with you. I certainly won't be eating them."

            "Aw, man, this sucks." Sirius protested as the class filed out, most throwing their 'dishes' in the rubbish on the way out. He looked to Lily, who seemed to be in a better mood. "What'd you" He used air quotes "'make'?"

            Lily pulled the cap off her bowl and held it out to him. "Have one." She suggested. "They're a little darker than I'd like but I think they're okay."

            "What are they?" he asked, reaching into the bowl. "Oatmeal raisin cookies." She said. Sirius bit very carefully into one. "Hey these are good!" She thrust the bowl at him. "You can have them all, I don't want them."

            "Cool! Here." He held the bowl out for everyone else to have one.

            Nicola stared at the parchment with raised eyebrows. "Wow." She said slowly. "What are we going to do with all this information?"

            Melody shrugged. "I dunno. We could duplicate them and send them out to everyone via owl post." She suggested, leaning back on her bed.

            "But wouldn't Snape be incriminated?" Nicola asked, "You did promise him it couldn't be traced to him."

            "Nah." Melody shook her head. "The git was smart enough to disguise his handwriting.  Nobody will know who wrote it."

            "Hmm." Nicola thought out loud. "Let me see." She mused. "Sending out copies seems a bit juvenile, and this is some deep information. I got it!" She sat up straight. "How about we send copies of this to all the wizarding newspapers and magazines, and ask them to write articles on it? And that way everybody in the whole wizarding world will find out! That'll really let the air out of that bitch's balloon."

            "Brilliant!"

            "And then, we can send copies of all of them to Lily, and copies of the magazine with the most details out to everyone in the school?"

            Melody got off of her bed grinning from ear to ear. "I like the way you think Nicola. This could really work! And then we'll see how High and Mighty, Your Stupid Rumors Don't Effect Me Evans is! This just might work. It'll take all of the allowance I've saved up to have a magazine sent to everyone in Hogwarts, but this just might work!"

            He smiled in his bed, the yellow hangings shut around his bed for privacy. He looked up at the calendar that was pinned to the top of the canopy and grinned even wider. Only five more days…


	23. The Prank

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. Are you tired of reading this yet? Because I sure am tired of typing it.

Chapter 23: The Prank

"Lily?" Danielle sat on the edge of her friend's bed and tapped her gently. "If you don't get up soon, you won't have time to eat breakfast before class. We have muggle studies first today and we need all the time we can get to do that stupid cooking project."

"I'm up." Informed the girl in a hushed voice as she got sluggishly out of bed with her back to Danielle. Discreetly she wiped all traces of her tears away before allowing her to see her face.

"Lily, are you alright? Your eyes are really red."

"I'm fine." She answered. "I just don't feel well. I have a bad feeling about today."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Lily insisted again, grabbing her uniform off the top of her trunk and walking into the bathroom. Danielle smiled sadly, and gathered the things she would need for the day's classes.

Quickly, Lily showered, dressed and took care of her morning routine, before she, walked, alone down to class, not really feeling like eating or being in anyone else's company.

Something was bothering her, that was clear to others, but what is was, no one knew. She knew though; and it wasn't really anything truly substantial that was eating at her. She just had this gut feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong, awfully soon. It was a hollow feeling sitting in the pit of her stomach, and it scared her to death.

She barely noticed when her classmates began to enter and Danielle sat down at the workstation across from her. Their ingredients already lay between them and their cookbooks were already turned to the appropriate pages, so they got to work with nary a word between them.

They worked in silence for a long time, until Lily spoke up, concentrating more on cutting up the vegetables before her than the words that came out of her mouth. "I'm sorry I'm such terrible company." She said, in the same quiet voice that she'd been using all morning.

"I just don't feel right today."

"It's alright." Danielle replied, swiping her forehead, and then taking a break to roll up her bothersome sleeves. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really." Lily shrugged, but then. "I just have this feeling, in my gut you know? Like something's going to wrong, like something bad is going to happen."

"To you?" Asked the other girl. Lily shrugged again. "I don't know. I just woke up this morning with this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I just started crying for no reason."

Danielle looked Lily over, and decided that she did look really troubled. "I'm sure it's nothing." She said. "Maybe just a stomach ache or something."

Lily shook her head, pushing aside a tomato to slice a pepper. "It's not like...a physical feeling. More like...I **_know_** something's going to happen, but not **_what_**."

Danielle didn't know what to say then, and Lily was more than okay with letting their area slip into silence again while the other students talked loudly.

Melody grinned, glancing at Lily out of the corner of her eye at Dinner. "Bye this time tomorrow, her whole little world will have come crashing down already." She whispered to Nicola.

The other girl smiled too. "Just a few more hours." She stood. "I'll be back."

Melody nodded, and Nicola walked over to the Hufflepuff table and slipped into the empty seat beside her boyfriend. "Hey." She said, putting both her hands on his shoulder, and leaning on him.

Derik turned to look at her and smiled. "Hi babe. What's up?"

Nicola pouted. "Nothing really. I just haven't seen you around in a while." Derik leaned closer to her. "I know." He kissed her lips. "I've just been a little busy lately. Tell you what: I'm about to go and finish a bit of homework." He slipped his hand high on her thigh and brushed her with his fingertips. She shuddered. "How about I go do that now, and then in a couple of hours I'll meet you by the Charms room and we'll go back up to my room."

"Sure." She whispered breathlessly, standing up. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Two hours." Derik agreed, pulling her down to kiss her deeply. He kissed her once more and patted her on the bum, sending her away. "Two hours." He reminded her again as she walked away.

"Lily." James called to her as she slipped past him, nearly unnoticed after dinner. "Hmm?" Lily turned, smiling softly when she saw James beckoning to her. "I didn't see you there."

She stood on her toes and kissed him sweetly on the cheek, but he tucked his finger under her chin and drew her back, kissing her fully on the lips.

"Haven't done that in a while." He whispered, as she reached for his hand and he led her away from the crowd, taking the long way up to the common room. "No," she agreed. "We haven't."

"Are you okay? You've seemed a little...sad lately." Lily looked up and backed a step so she could see his eyes more clearly. "I'm fine." She said. "Just feeling weird all week. Still feel weird actually."

"Feel weird how?" James asked, and then he thought better of what he said and held up his hand. "Wait. Before you answer that...am I going to regret asking this question later?"

Lily smiled and shook her head. "No. I just have this weird feeling; like something bad will happen."

"Maybe it's nothing." James suggested.

Lily sighed. "Danielle said the same thing. Maybe I'm over reacting."

"Nothing a good snog won't cure." James teased, and he pulled her closer to him, grinning. "James!" Lily laughed, squirming out of his grasp. "Not here." But her lips were already an inch away from his.

"Why not?" He asked, pouting and holding her tightly.

"Because." She said. "If McGonagall or Filch catches us, we're in big trouble, and you know it."

James gave her puppy eyes. "I don't wanna wait until we get all the way up to the common room. Please Lil? The Room of Requirement is closer." He leant down to nuzzle her neck. "Please?" his warm breath on her skin made her shiver, and give in.

"Fine." She breathed, ducking to avoid his mouth and grabbing his hand. "But hurry up. The faster we get there, the faster we-oh!" Her sentence came to a surprising dead end as James ran down the corridor, pulling her with him.

"See Lils." He told her, breathless as he closed the door to the room a minute later. "It only took a minute to get here."

"That's because you insisted on sprinting the whole way." Lily laughed, putting her arms around his neck as he pushed her back against a wall. "Why is it the room is always small and dark when you bring me in here?" she asked, amused.

He muttered something that sounded like 'I dunno' against her neck. Then he lifted his head. "Do you want the light on?"

"Don't worry about it this time." Lily ordered, and grabbed the back of his head to pull his lips to hers.

James kissed her soundly, anchoring her to him with his arms as his tongue delved into her mouth to meet with hers. Lily relaxed, loosing herself, as he pulled her closer, concentrating on the feeling of being here with James, rather than her allegedly impending turn for worse.

Derik waited, and waited, leaning his weight against the wall as he trained his eyes on the other end of the corridor, looking for a swish of long hair, and Gryffindor robes, all the while thinking, still counting.

And then he saw her. She walked right up to him, and smiled, putting her arms around his neck as he kissed her cheek. Then he held his hand out for her to take, and said two words: "Let's go."

"Where were you all night?" Melody demanded harshly as Nicola stumbled into their dormitory, her dark brown hair mussed and her eyes still glazed over with sleep. She smiled naughtily. "With Derik."

Melody wrinkled her nose. "Sorry I asked." She muttered. "Hurry up and get dressed."

"I already showered in Derik's dorm."

"Well then brush your hair and come on! Lily's already downstairs in the common room and we have to be at breakfast earlier than her today. It's the big day Nikki! We get to see our big plan pulled off."

Nicola smiled in anticipation. "I can't wait."

"Lily, are you okay?" Sirius asked, swallowing a piece of toast he'd gotten from Merlin knows where. "I mean...you look kind of sick."

"I'm fine." Lily muttered. She scrubbed her face with her hand, and pushed a piece of her still curly hair back into its sloppy ponytail. Sirius tilted his head, considering her. "You still feeling funny from yesterday?"

"A little." She conceded. "Well, actually a lot. It's gotten to the point of physical pain."

"Are you sure you're not just getting like, a stomach sickness or something?" Remus asked, walking over to them, the only one of the three to be already dressed in his school robes. Lily nodded. "I don't think so. But, whatever it is, it's making me feel bad enough that I'm contemplating skipping class for the day."

"Well, we'll get your assignments and notes for you." Sirius promised, dropping an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders. Lily closed her eyes and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "Thanks." She murmured faintly.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd be jealous." Alex said, announcing the arrival of she and Danielle from the girls' dorms. "Well you know better, so stuff it." She moaned, clutching more tightly at her abdomen. James and Peter came into the common room and Alex raised a delicately arched eyebrow.

"Lily doesn't feel well." Remus said, by way of explanation and shrugging. "You're skipping classes for the day?" Danielle asked. Lily peeled her eyes open. "I'm thinking about it."

"And you?" Alex asked; looking to Sirius who was still in the t-shirt and sweat pants he'd slept in. "Nah, I'm going."

"I'd advise you to get dressed then, otherwise you'll be late."

"Alright." Sirius disentangled himself from Lily, who collapsed against the back of the couch. "I'll just be a minute."

"You alright?" James asked, leaning over her from behind the couch. "Yeah, I'm good." Lily said, leaning forward to stand. "I'm going to get dressed."

"Hey Lily!" Melody called, as the group of her fellow 6th years walked into the Great Hall. Lily turned warily, as the other girl beckoned her. "What is it?" she asked, glancing briefly between Melody and Nicola, who was standing beside her.

"You look like shit girl."

Lily sighed. "Is that what you wanted? I'm really not feeling up to this." She turned to leave. "No wait!" Nicola called out. "We have something for you."

Lily pivoted back around, glancing guardedly at the two girls and the box Nicola held in her arms. "Whatever you have, I'm pretty sure I don't want it." She claimed, but Nicola thrust the box into her arms. Lily thrust it right back at her.

"I already know whatever's in here is going to explode in my face, or jump out at me, and I don't want it." She glanced over at her table, and James, Remus, Danielle, and Alex were all watching carefully.

"Aw, look at Lily's bodyguards." Melody cooed. "Screw you." Lily spat, brushing her loose hair back into its ponytail again. She started to leave once more.

"Oh," Melody teased, in an even gentler voice, pushing the box solidly in Lily's arms. "Is Lily sore because her new daddy's a pedophile?"

In Melody's mind, it was truly worth it to see the look of pure shock across the redhead's face. Worth all the detentions and the howlers that she would surely get. "What did you say?" Lily asked slowly, forcing the words past a tight throat and clenched teeth.

"Need I repeat myself? Loud enough for the whole Great Hall to hear? I'm sure the Slytherins would love that. And wouldn't your boyfriend love to hear how the love of his life has been defiled, and can never give him children, should the opportunity occur?"

"What are you talking about?" Lily demanded in a gruff voice, but her eyes grew round and betrayed her. "Oh look how brave she is!" Nicola giggled. "Strong Lily trying to pretend that we're lying on her."

"How cute!" Melody agreed. Then she stepped forward and dropped the cute act. "Let me tell you something Lily. You may deny it in our faces," she gestured between she and Nicola. "But in a matter of minutes the whole school's going to know everything. Go on. Look in the box."

With a growing sense of dread, Lily looked between the two girls, and very slowly, she lifted the lid on the box and peered inside.

A swatch of bright color caught her attention first, and a picture of herself smiled back at her from the front page of the Daily Prophet. A painful gasp tore from her throat as her heart and her gut constricted agonizingly tight.

She lifted the newspaper to see a stack of magazines, every magazine in the Wizarding world in fact, even the Quarterly Quidditch, staring back at her, all of which had various pictures of her self on the front cover.

Her voice came out in a strangled gasp. "What did you do?"

Melody grinned. "Oh, we only wrote some interesting facts down and sent them out to every single magazine and newspaper company. They were kind enough to rewrite and publish them, and don't worry, we didn't print any lies. Just the truth about how you've been beaten, assaulted, and raped by your own family."

Lily tore her gaze away from the contents of the box, and stared at her, aghast. "How-h-how did you-" she stuttered. Melody laughed. "You see...I have a very good friend who can read minds." Lily shook her head. "No!"

"Yes, actually!" Melody laughed, enjoying herself. "It isn't safe to keep secrets Lily. It's bad for your health, so we did you a favor really, and printed every sordid detail. And since we figure you're going to be Head Girl next year, we also took the liberty of having the magazine with the most specific article sent out into everyone in the school! That way we all get to know the girl who's going to lead us next year! Isn't it fabulous?"

"You didn't. Please tell me you didn't." Lily moaned, slamming her eyes shut. "Oh we did." Nicola nodded, nearly cackling with the glory she found in it all. "And look at that..." A loud rustling sound drew all eyes to the ceiling and announced the arrival of hundreds of owls. "Post's arrived."

As arms reached out to accept their packages, Lily turned her gaze squarely on the two Gryffindors. Nicola's manic grin widened as she saw the hurt, and pain reflected in the girl's gleaming wet eyes, but Melody's own smile faltered.

Lily's lower jaw trembled and shuddered, and without another glance at another living soul, she escaped the Great Hall with one hand grasping at her heart and the other arm wrapped around her waist. Nicola charmed the box of magazines and newspapers to follow her, just for fun.

Somewhere, in the long distance between the Great Hall and Gryffindor tower, Lily stopped jogging and started sprinting. She didn't pay attention to the route she took, or even how fast she was running, she just flew, praying to anyone out there that this was just a dream.

But she was so lost in her troubles that she didn't see the portrait hole open up as someone stepped outside. She merely sidestepped them and ran on, until an arm caught her and kept her from going any further.

A broken sob escaped, low and guttural as she turned to see who had come to finish off the job. But it was only Sirius, come to see what was wrong after she'd nearly plowed him over, on his way down to a late breakfast.

As he pulled her arm, she collapsed against him, weeping gut-wrenching sobs into the front of his robes.

"Lily!" He cried, astonished. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"M-Melody!" She bawled. "Melody and Nicola...t-they..."

"Oh no." Sirius muttered. He pulled her over to the couch and made her sit down. "What did they do?"

Lily motioned to the box that was following her and buried her face in her hands, unable to control her painful howling weeps. Sirius gently put her head on his shoulder and wrapped an arm tightly around her, allowing her to cry. With his free hand he snatched the box out of the air and reached inside.

"Oy." He whispered, catching sight of all the headlines. He picked up a copy of Witch Weekly and scanned the article.

When he finished reading it, he chucked it into the fireplace. "Lily? Lils look at me." He gently lifted her head. "I hate to see you like this. Don't let all that bullshit upset you. Remember what you told Melody about not getting upset over lies? Just ignore it. No one with half a flobberworm's brain is going to believe this rubbish. Me, and the guys, and Danielle, and Alex know it's not true, and that's all that matters right? Didn't you tell Melody that too? Honestly! Did she expect me to believe that Rose beat you and married some guy who she knew had raped you, and all that other garbage? Come on Lily, you're made of stronger stuff. Let's just go down to class and then when we see those two House Traitors in the common room later you can beat them senseless."

"I can't." Lily moaned, wiping the salty streaks from her face and pulling away from Sirius as he tried to get her to stand.

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "If you're worried about what everyone will say then don't be. Nobody here reads all of these magazines."

"It's not that." Lily whimpered.

"Then what is it?" Sirius asked gently, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and lifting her chin towards him. He lightly wiped her face. "Because it's true Sirius."

"What?" He froze, forgetting about the cloth pressed against her cheek. Lily grabbed the kerchief from his hand and turned away.

"I said it's true. The abuse, the rape, Robbie leaving, my Dad leaving, all my family in England hating me, me having no home to go back to this summer except for the one with a violent mother and a rapist...it's all true, every word printed in all of those stories are all true. And...and Melody sent copies of one of the magazines to every person in this school.

I don't know what to do Sirius. I didn't even tell James this. So now, not only does he know, but the whole school knows! Hell, the whole Wizarding world knows!"

Sirius shook his head slowly, in shocked disbelief. For once Lily didn't see a single trace of good humor or amusement in his eyes. She saw hurt. He was hurting _for her_. "I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't be." Lily turned away again, her red eyes downcast. "If it's one thing I do know right now, it's that this isn't your fault, so you have nothing to be sorry for. And I also know that I refuse to stand by and let these people hurt me anymore."

"What are you going to do?"

Lily headed up the stairs to her dormitory. "I'm going to leave." She answered. "What!" Sirius cried, and followed after her. "What do you mean leave?"

Lily ripped her sweater off, and then her white shirt, leaving her standing there in a white wife beater. "I mean," she kicked her trunk open viciously and dug threw it. She felt no more tears now, no more sadness. Now she was just angry. Angry and tired. "That I'm tired of dealing with everybody's unjustified prejudiced towards me. I've dealt with it my whole life at home, only to have to deal with it in a place I thought I'd fit in.

For as long as I can remember I had to work harder than everyone else, just to try and get people to like me, to see that I could fit in and excel, that I have a place in their world, and a good one. I had to show Rose that I was athletic, that I could sing and dance, and cook and clean, and make myself up to be perfectly beautiful at all times, just so she would over look how freakish she thought I was and be proud of me.

Then when I got my Hogwarts letter I was so happy, Sirius. I thought that there was finally a place where I wouldn't be considered a freak. Where I could be accepted for the first time in my life. But they didn't except me either. Because of my Muggle blood, I didn't belong.

So I buried myself in my studies. I tried to show all the purebloods that I was just as powerful, and just as smart as they were. That I could make up for my Muggle half, but they weren't satisfied with that!

I'm shunned from the Muggle world because I'm magical. And I'm shunned from the Magical world because I was born Muggle, and all my life I've been trying desperately to fit in with both sides but they just aren't having it, and I've had it up to here with trying to make them see. I'm through."

Lily turned around to face him, a sweater in her hand and a desperate passion in her voice and in her eyes. "I want to know what it's like to be truly happy Sirius. I want to know what's it's like to be accepted and to be able to live without being hurt everyday by people who are supposed to love and accept me for me and not try to change me. I want to know what it's like to just be, and not fight a loosing battle for the rest of my days. I want to live without hiding or changing who or what I am, and I can't find that here. I realize that now."

She turned around in silence, not wanting to cry again, and pulled her white turtle necked sweater on. Then she pulled off her shoes and skirt and pulled a pair of black slacks on. Sirius moved forward and knelt by her knees. "You can't leave Lily. We accept you and we love you. James loves you, I love you, Remus loves you, Peter loves you, Danielle loves you and Alex loves you. Our parents all love you, especially Sirena and Tyler. You're a daughter to them, and a sister to us. Damn everyone else!"

Lily shook her head, and her lower lip trembled again. "You don't understand Sirius. It hurts too much! It hurts too much to know that people can do this to me with a clear conscious when all I've done is seek out their approval, done everything in my power to get them to like and accept me! Melody was my best friend since we were four, and look at what she did, over something so stupid! I want a place to belong, and I obviously don't belong here, not with these people."

She reached over and pulled her boots out of the bottom of her trunk and put them on. And without giving it a second thought, she began gathering all her things, all her books and clothes and personal items, and packing them away in her trunk. With magic she was done in a matter of minutes, and Sirius watched her silently all the while.

"So that's it?" He asked when she pulled on her cloak, and leather gloves and locked her trunk. "You're just going to walk out of here, and never come back? Just like that?" Lily nodded. "Just like that." She agreed.

"And what about James? You'll just leave him like that? He needs you Lily. He loves you more than anyone. At least talk to him before you decide to take off somewhere."

"I've already made up my mind, Sirius." Lily stated, her voice broken and soft, just before the tears started to flow again. She grabbed her wand and levitated her trunk, following it down the stairs.

Sirius trailed behind her, not saying a word as they made their way to the headmaster's office. Lily was beginning to have second thoughts, but she didn't tell Sirius that as she left her trunk at the base of the stone gargoyle and mumbled the password.

The statue sprang aside, and Lily carefully stepped up the stairs, Sirius right behind her. She knocked softly and waited until the headmaster's soft voice welcomed her in.

"I've been waiting for the two of you." Professor Dumbledore said grimly as they stepped into the crowded office. Lily looked around, slightly taken aback by all of the people she saw in the office. McGonagall was there, Remus was there, Danielle, Alex, and James were there, and Tyler and Sirena were even there.

They stood up and the conversations ended immediately when she walked into the room. Sirena immediately walked over to her and gave her a huge hug, squeezing her tight. "We came as soon as we saw that horrible article." She said. "Are you okay?" She leaned back to take in Lily's appearance.

Her nose was pink and her eyes were red and puffy, the rest of her face was pale and her wayward curls were spilling out of their ponytail again. "I'm fine." She answered half heartedly, suddenly finding that she couldn't lift her gaze from the floor.

Tyler came over to hug her also, carefully looking her over. "Were you planning on going somewhere doll?"

"Um, yes actually." To her own ears her voice sounded small and weak. "I was going to leave."

"Leave?" Tyler repeated, placing a hand at her back and steering her gently towards the door. "I want to talk to you outside in the hall for a moment."

Lily allowed herself to be led out, and looked at the floor, not looking at any of her peers as she passed them. When the door was shut behind them, Tyler turned to her. "What exactly do you mean by "leave"?" he asked her.

Lily shrugged helplessly, thinking her meaning had been clear at first, but now the concept seemed foggy, even to her. Tyler lowered his head to meet her gaze. "Did you mean leave the whole Magical World?"

"Yes-No. I don't know." Lily confessed, scrubbing her hands through her hair. "When I saw those articles the first thing I thought was to leave and never come back. I wanted to run, still do."

"Run where Lily?" he asked gently, wondering exactly how far she'd thought this out. "I don't know." She shrugged again. "The first thing I thought of was your house, I don't know why. But I'd be imposing even more than I already have and I'd end up right back at Hogwarts anyway.

Then I figured I'd go home, but I might not even have a home to go to anymore. Since Dad took off to France without me there's no telling what state the house is in and who knows whether or not it's been trashed since he isn't paying the bills anymore. And going to live with Rose is certainly out of the question. I'd eat my own heart before _anyone_ tries to make me go back there."

She stopped rambling and pacing and turned to look at Tyler. "I don't know what to do." She admitted.

"Well," James's father started. "How about we go back into the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore says there's a man who wants to talk to you, and after that, Sirena, the Headmaster, you and I can all sit around and discuss this okay?"

Lily sighed. "Well, it isn't as if I have any other options huh?" She asked, with a wry smile. "No, not many." Tyler agreed. "Come on."

Reluctantly, she re-entered Professor Dumbledore's office. And as before, everyone turned to look at her, except this time, there was a man Lily didn't know amongst the rest, whom obviously had just arrived by fireplace, as he was dusting soot out of his hair.

"Ah." He said. "You must be Miss Evans." Lily nodded slowly. What now? The man turned to look at the Headmaster. "May the three of us have a word alone?" On cue, the rest left the office, all smiling and sending Lily what were supposed to be reassuring looks.

The flaxen haired man stepped forward, extending his hand to Lily. Briefly, she looked him up and down, sizing him up. He appeared in his late thirties, early forties, dressed professionally in a muggle suit with a cloak over, with somewhat kindhearted features.

But still wary, Lily shook his hand. "I'm, Gregory Klansman. I'm a caseworker for both muggle and magical children." Lily instantly dropped his hand. "I'm not a child." She murmured. He raised a bushy eyebrow, amused, and otherwise ignored her statement.

"When I caught sight of the article on the front page of the Daily Prophet, I was quite shocked Miss Evans."

"I imagine a lot of people were," Lily countered. Mr. Klansman went on. "Yes, but was the story true?"

She sighed, yet answered truthfully. "Unfortunately."

Mr. Klansman nodded. "Ah, I see. Well, since reading the paper this morning, my office has undergone an investigation. We've dug up a lot of information, yours and Clarks, and have got enough evidence, with other charges against Clarks, to put him in jail."

Lily winced, not particularly liking where this conversation was headed. "You want me to make a statement?" She asked circumspectly. Klansman nodded. "Yes. We want you to testify against both he and your mother."

"I thought you were a caseworker, not a policemen."

"I am. It's why I'm here actually. Do you have any other family in England?" he asked. Lily shook her head. "That settles it then."

"Settles what exactly, Mr. Klansman?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be put in either an orphanage or a foster home until you graduate from Hogwarts."

"WHAT?!" Lily jumped out of the chair she'd sat down in when he'd asked her to testify. "There's no way! I refuse to be adopted. I only have one more summer-"

"Then you'll have to be put in an orphanage for magical children."

Lily turned to her headmaster for help. "Professor!" She cried. The wizen man stood and skirted around the edge of his desk. "There has to be another solution Mr. Klansman. Surely we can arrange for her to stay with a friend's family for one summer?"

Klansman shook his head. "I'm sorry, but it's either the orphanage or adoption."

"The hell it is." Lily growled. "I've heard about those orphanages."

"Miss Evans, I'm sorry." He said again. "But there's no other option. If you were muggle, guardianship would be appointed to a friend's family, since it's just one summer. But since you're a witch we have to put you in an-"

"Forget this." Lily grumbled, and turned and fled the office. "Miss Evans, wait!" he called following her down the stairs and out into the hall. But Lily had had enough.

"Fuck!" She snapped, not caring that her surrogate family had heard her swearing so rashly. "Fuck it! Fuck this school, fuck its stupid prejudiced students, fuck their immature childish grudges, fuck your stupid _orphanage_ and fuck you!"

They all stared at her, surprised by her out burst as Klansman followed her into the corridor. He put his hand on her arm, but she shrugged him off violently. "Don't touch me." She snarled.

"Lily!" Sirena cried. "What's the matter?" Lily whirled, facing the woman she'd truly thought of as her mother with every bit of scandalized indignation she felt showing on her face. She threw her hands in the air, truly pushed to her limits. "This wanker-" she nodded towards Klansman. "Wants to put me in an orphanage."

Sirena and Tyler both gasped, as the others' jaws dropped. Klansman tried to grab her arm again, and again, Lily threw him off, flames literally licking around the outside of her irises. "I SAID _don't touch me_!"

Feeling nothing short of pure rage, she threw her arms down at her side like a child having a temper tantrum, and in a whirl of 6 feet high hot flames, she vanished.


	24. I swear

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the plot. I am seriously tired of repeating myself!

Chapter 24: It Ends

Sirius, James, Remus, Danielle Alex, McGonagall, Tyler and Sirena stared at the slightly charred section of the floor, totally shocked.

"What happened?" Sirius asked. "She lost her temper and transported." They all turned towards Dumbledore's voice. "Transported?" Danielle repeated. "What do you mean transported?"

"Transportation, Miss Pierce, is like apparating. Messrs. Black, Lupin, Potter, and Miss. Larson should be able to do it as well."

"Where'd she go?" James asked, still staring at the floor. "I've no idea." Professor Dumbledore answered loftily. "She may have gone back to the dorms, or anywhere else in the castle, she may even be outside. I doubt very much that she'd be anywhere off Hogwarts grounds yet, as this was probably the first time she'd done that."

"We have to go find her." Remus said. "Before she does something stupid."

"I don't think she may have acted so rashly, just yet." The headmaster said. They all stared at him. "She may have been angry, but she's smart. I assure you, she's only gone to calm herself."

"Why don't you all go to the Gryffindor common room, and in an hour you can look for her? I should expect Mrs. Potter would like to sit down for a spell."

His students nodded, and James put an arm behind his mother's back. "Come on Mum." He said quietly. "Goodbye Professor."

"Goodbye. Oh and James?"

James turned his head. "Yes sir?"

"I'm sure Miss. Evans is fine. She just needs to accept what has happened." James nodded, and half supported his mother as they made their way away from the Headmaster's office.

"Remus, check the map." He said, as soon as they were out of sight, and going up the stairs. "Map?" Sirena repeated, huffing slightly from the effort of climbing up the stairs. James supported more of is mother's weight and nodded, as Remus drew a large sheet of parchment out of his pocket and scanned it over.

"A map that shows where everybody in Hogwarts is." He explained. Behind him, Tyler looked over Remus's shoulder at the map. "You made this?" he asked. "Sirius, Peter, James, Lily and I," Remus said, he pointed to a dot labeled. "Lily Evans." And sighed in relief. "She's in the common room."

"Good." Danielle said. They neared the portrait of the fat lady, and Sirena and Tyler both smiled. "I haven't seen this portrait in years!" Tyler exclaimed. Sirius gave the password and the portrait swung forward to admit them.

The first things they noticed were the overturned couch and the huge burn in the middle of the carpet. Then they heard, before they saw, Lily in the corner at the base of the girls' staircase balled up, and crying with her hands clasped over her head.

James carefully disentangled his arm from his mother and swiftly went over to her, as Tyler righted the couch for his wife to sit on.

Sirius, Remus, Danielle, and Alex all averted their eyes, feeling like they were intruding as James sat on the stairs, unfolded Lily's arms and tugged gently until she sat up and threw her arms around his neck, transferring her tears to his front rather than her knees.

James ignored everyone else, and pulled her fully into his lap, rocking gently. Tyler and Sirena looked at each other, in slight awe. They knew that Lily and James were close...but _they_ didn't even act like that when they were 20! Let alone 16.

"It's not fair." Lily whispered. Finally she'd stopped sobbing, but the tears still ran silently down her face. "I know it's not." James whispered back, brushing her hair out of her face tenderly.

Lily caught sight of her reflection in his glasses and buried her face in his shoulder again. "I'm a mess." She moaned. "I'm always a mess." James countered. "Who cares? You're beautiful."

Lily snorted. "You always do that!" James observed. "Look at me." Lily tilted her head back and looked up at his face. "How long have you known me?"

"All my life." Lily answered dutifully.

"And have I ever lied to you?"

"No."

"Right. And I'm not lying now. Nor have I ever been when I've said you're beautiful. So stop making those little noises when I say so. You sound like a little piggy."

Lily snorted again. "There!" James exclaimed, poking her in her side. "You did it again! Stop that."

Lily giggled, jerking away from his finger. "Stop poking me." She squealed. "That tickles!"

James smirked. "What tickles?" He poked her again. "That?" She jerked sideways a second time. "Yes! James, stop it! No don't!" Too late, he had rolled over, taking her with him until he sat across her stomach, tickling her mercilessly.

Over on an armchair, across from Sirena, where she'd been asking about the baby, Danielle shook her head. "I don't see how he's done it." She declared. "No way on Earth would I even _think_ about laughing after something like that."

Sirena glanced over at the two and smiled. "They've always been like that." Sirius declared, from where he'd started up a game of chess with Tyler. "One of them would be so angry about something one minute, and the next thing you know they're both laughing and giggling like dorks."

That's Lily and James for you." Remus replied, working on some Divination homework. "Yeah, it is." Tyler agreed, watching briefly as the two wrestled on the floor. "Look." He nodded towards them, and then looking at Sirena. "I thought you said she would grow out of the stage where she liked to wrestle boys."

Sirena shrugged. "She should have. Who was the last teenage girl you saw who was willing to roll around on the floor and risk messing up their hair."

Tyler smirked. "You." Sirena rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up Tyler."

"Give up." Lily growled, grinning and holding James in a headlock. "Fat chance." He growled back, smirking as he flipped her over and sat across her. "You give up, before you hurt yourself."

"No way!"

"Guess I'll have to make you give up then, won't I?"

"I'd like to see you try! No! James that's cheating! You can't-you can't tickle me like that! Laughter It's not fair!"

"Sorry, Lily!" James smirked. "What was that? I can't hear you, you're laughing too hard."

"L-Lemme go!" She squealed squirming. "Say uncle." James commanded, "And I'll let you go."

"N-Never!"

"Lily you've got to eat."

"I'm not hungry!" The Irish girl insisted stubbornly, not for the first time in the last twenty minutes, her arms crossed over her chest.

They, meaning Lily, James, and Tyler were sitting at a small table in the kitchens bright and early the next morning. "Come on Lils." James insisted. "You haven't eaten all day yesterday and you need to eat."

"I'm not hungry." Lily replied fervently, leaning back in her seat to show that she could have at this for a very long time. "James. I feel like crap okay. Food is the furthest thing from my mind. I want to get out of this dump."

"Why are you so hell bent on leaving?" Tyler asked, digging into his waffles with absolutely no problem. "Besides." He added. "Travel on an empty stomach will make you even more miserable than you already are, and you aren't leaving this table until you eat something."

"Tyler!" Lily protested, her head rolling back. "I am really, seriously not hungry!"

"And I really seriously mean it when I say you'll eat something. Sirena is very moody and if I let you leave out of the kitchen without eating she'll have my head. Especially if you go and do something like pass out."

Lily sighed, and reached for a small bowl of cantaloupe chunks, leaning onto James's shoulder as she popped a piece into her mouth and chewed. "Happy?" She asked warily, reaching for more.

"Finish the bowl and I will be." Tyler insisted.

"Now don't you feel much better?" James asked softly when she pushed the empty bowl away from her. "No." she muttered. "But can we go now?"

"Sure." The three stood, and Tyler thanked the flustered house elves as they made their way back towards the common room.

While Tyler took a seat in one of the overstuffed armchairs, Lily sat in the corner of the plush couch in James' lap, and closed her eyes. "Are you tired still?" James whispered in her ear.

She nodded, as he nuzzled her shoulder, and slipped one hand up to rest on his collarbone, and the other's fingers intertwined with his.

Tyler stood and went back upstairs to check on Sirena, leaving them to be the only two in the common room at such an early hour.

"Thank you James." She whispered, sighing into his chest. "For what?" he asked on a yawn. It had to be only 6 in the morning at latest. The group had been up rather late and Lily had only been asleep for an hour or two at the most.

"For being such a good friend all these years. For being patient with me, and not running off and leaving me. These past couple of years have been really hard for me and you've really been a...a really huge aid in all of this whether it's unbeknownst to you or not."

"I would never just 'run off and leave you'." He said whole-heartedly. "I can't function properly without you Lil. Don't you know that yet?"

Lily leaned her head back to look at him. And her face fell as she saw the troubled look in his brown eyes. "But you think less of me because you know now." She hated seeing that look in his eyes. It hurt. She moved to stand, but his arm around her waist held her fast, and his fingers tightened around hers.

"No!" He denied, his eyes boring intensely into hers.

"Then what's troubling you so much?" She asked. "I can see it in your eyes James, something is bothering the hell out of you."

James shook his head slowly. "I'm angry because I didn't figure it out sooner that something was wrong." He buried his face in her shoulder; his next words were muffled. "Who knows you better than me? Nobody. So I should have been the first one to see that something was wrong. I suspected, but not for a long time, and I should have been able to look at you and tell...I didn't even notice until years after it happened."

"James." Lily shucked her shoulder until he looked at her. "You were ten when it started. How were you supposed to know? And by the time you should have been able to see, it had been going on for years and I'd learned how to hide it. Don't you dare blame yourself; it's not your fault. You did the best thing you could have done. You helped me and gave me a place to stay during the holidays...and you made me so happy that I forgot about all of the horrible things that happened over the summer."

James shook his head again. He wasn't quite sure how to voice his worries to her. Wasn't quite sure how to make her see just how much she meant and how...scared she made him. After a long silence, he explained it as best he could. "I keep thinking: 'what if it had been worse? What if you'd died?' I couldn't live if something were to ever happen to you. I'm scared for you." There, he'd said it.

"Too be honest, I'm scared for me too. But you don't have to be. I'd miss you way too much to leave this earth so soon before you." She added, a teasing lilt in her voice. The corner of James's mouth hitched upward, as if he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to smile.

Lily wanted to reassure him. She didn't like to see him sad, and especially not because of her. "I won't go and get myself killed James. I promise."

"You swear?" he asked her, a small smile beginning to take over his frown. Lily nodded.

"I swear."

James held up his pinky at her. "Pinky swear." He demanded, grinning.

"Pinky swear." Lily agreed, hooking her small finger around his. Then she gave a small smile of her own, and the two shared a sweet kiss over their still twined fingers. "I love you." She said.

"I love you too."


	25. A Family Briefly Reunited

Disclaimer: Again, for the record. I only own the original characters and the plot.

Chapter 25:

"WHERE IS MY GRANDDAUGHTER?"

Every student in the common room snapped to attention as the commanding voice accented with deep Irish tones made itself known from the fireplace. In one fluid motion, as one, they all turned to see a regal looking woman standing in front of the fire.

She brushed soot away from her expensive hunter green robes and reached a gloved hand up to adjust her large matching hat. Sharp eyes behind sleek wire rimmed spectacles swept across the room, searching for the granddaughter in question, and the Gryffindors all stared expectantly at her, unsure of what this rather intimidating woman wanted exactly.

A brave 7th year stood up, and moved forward. "Who is your granddaughter Madame?" He asked. Behind her, the fire exploded again, and this time, a man stepped out, dusting off his tailored black robes.

He too, dressed in the best, was slightly elderly. His red hair was lightly flecked with white streaks all over. "_Bloody hell._" someone whispered as he stepped forward to stand next to his wife. "_It's the Minister of Magic of Ireland!_"

He too searched the common room with his eyes, and then looked to the frowning woman beside him. "Where is she?" he asked as a few of the students who knew who he was stared at him in shock.

The woman shrugged, a gesture that seemed out of place, too improper for one who seemed so imperial. And just as she opened her mouth once more to ask about her grandchild again, a noisy group entered through the portrait whole, distracting them all.

"No, really!" Tyler proclaimed to his wife and the laughing tittering teenagers around him. "That really did happen! I swear!"

They all laughed at the story, but Lily, in the middle of the group, nestled under James' arm, only smiled weakly. She hadn't felt much like being happy or cheerful lately.

As one, they all froze, noticing the eerie silence of the common room and all of the eyes that had turned on them. Sirena stepped forward, her hands spanned across her large stomach and her face registered surprise.

"Sir!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" The group of 6th years peered out from behind her, eager to see whom she was talking to.

The couple's eyes settled on Lily's face and the woman's frown turned into a soft smile. Lily gave a very uncharacteristic shriek of surprise and ran at the closest one.

"Papa!" She cried, nearly bowling the man over with the force of her hug. "Little flower." Connor Evans, the Irish Minister of Magic returned his granddaughter's hug just as fiercely, and the biggest first real smile he'd had in a long time, broke out across his face.

"Nana!" Lily exclaimed, embracing Jocelyn Evans with no less fervor. "I missed you guys." The two women, one very young, one not quite old, rocked as they hugged, nearly dislodging Jocelyn's fancy hat and Lily's baseball cap.

Jocelyn stepped back and held her favorite granddaughter at arm's length, surveying her carefully from head o toe with sharp mint green eyes. "Let me look at you." She said, her clipped voice gone soft.

Smiling, Lily took her cap off and pulled the cloth band from her hair, letting it all around her in a shiny red wave. "You're so tiny." The older woman declared fondly. "And so thin, do you eat at all? Oh you must, look at those hips child!" Lily chuckled.

"And your hair's gone straight!"

Lily gave her head a tiny shake. "No actually, I straighten it with Potions. Sirena helped me straighten it this morning."

"Sirena?" Jocelyn repeated. "One of your friends?"

"Oh! I'm sorry." Lily grabbed both her grandparents' hands and pulled them over to the group of people standing a few yards away. "Nana, Papa. These are my surrogate parents. This is Sirena Potter, and this is Tyler Potter. Ty, Rena, these are my grandparents, Jocelyn and Connor Evans."

"We've met before." Connor proclaimed. Lily looked back and forth between the four adults. "You have?" Sirena nodded and agreed. "Many times before."

"Cripes." Tyler declared. "Lily I didn't know you grandfather was the Minister in Ireland!"

Lily lifted her head and glanced at her grandfather. "Neither did I. When did you make Minister?"

Connor shrugged. "Around three years ago. Can't believe I never mentioned it."

"And I can't believe I never thought to make the link between the three of you!" Tyler decreed. Jocelyn smiled. "Never the less it's great to see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Same as you I expect." Sirena said. "We're checking up on Lily. And our son goes here as well."

"Does he now? Where is he?"

"James, come here." Lily beckoned her boyfriend with her hand. Sirena ruffled James' hair lovingly. "This is our son James."

"The James you write about in your letters?" Jocelyn asked, a delicate eyebrow raised, amused as the poor boy flushed bright red. Lily nodded, unfazed. "I didn't know he was your son! Can't believe I never thought to ask you! He looks just like you. Lilialana introduce me to the rest of your friends."

Lily smiled, and motioned them to move closer as Connor removed his cloak and draped it over his arm. "This is Remus Lupin, and that's Sirius Black, with the dark hair."

"Your brother's right?" Connor teased, and Lily nodded. "There's another one, Peter Pettigrew, but he's never in one place anymore. He's either in the library doing homework or eating in the Great Hall or sleeping upstairs somewhere. Anyhow, this is Danielle Trent, and this is Alex Larson. Guys, these are my grandparents. I haven't seen them in ages!"

Connor shook each of their hands, and when Danielle approached Jocelyn, the woman pulled the girl into a bear hug. "None of that hand shaking nonsense!" She proclaimed. "Shaking hands is for men and people you don't like or know. I feel like I know all of you, Lilialana's told us so much about you all."

"Really?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow in Lily's direction as she too hugged her grandmother. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Evans." Remus said politely, as he too received a hug. "And you Mr. Evans."

"Feh." Connor grunted. "None of that Mr. and Mrs. Nonsense either. You can call me Connor or anything else you can think of."

"How about Dotty Old Geezer?" Jocelyn suggested, a grin on her face. Lily elbowed a chuckling Sirius with a smile on her face. "Didn't I tell you they were a hoot?" She asked proudly.

"I wish I had grandparents and I wish they were like you!" He declared, and Jocelyn laughed. "You can call me Nana then. You are Lily's brother aren't you? And that makes you my Grandchild too. And the rest of you as well."

Sirius grinned and Lily said. "I think the three of you will get along famously."

"I agree." Sirius decided. Jocelyn moved forward and then hugged Sirena and Tyler as well. Danielle looked around and noticed that the common room had been deserted. "Looks like we've been left to peace." She announced. Connor looked around and nodded his approval. "Good. Let's all of us sit shall we?"

"Oh, I just remembered!" Jocelyn proclaimed as they all sat around the common room fire. "Where's Robbie?"

Lily's head snapped up. "Robbie? You know where Robbie is?"

Her Nana and Papa nodded. "He should have been right behind us?" Connor stated. "But maybe he's still talking with the Headmaster." Lily's eyes dropped and she stood behind the couch James, Tyler and Sirena were sitting on.

Her face fell even more as the flames exploded for the third time that morning and the fourth Evans stepped from the fireplace.

James sucked in a breath and glanced behind him at Lily, knowing how much she had looked up to Robbie and how crushed she'd been when he had left.

Robbie stepped out of the green flames and dusted himself off worriedly.

Lily had always imagined that when she and Robbie would meet again, that she would feel only cold fury, but as she stood there, and her mind whirled, she felt infinitely happy and relieved for some reason.

Robbie looked to her immediately looked and smiled warmly as if he had last seen his little sister five hours ago, not five years ago. "Hi there, Lily."

Lily gritted her teeth and tried to be angry, but she couldn't help it…she grinned and hugged her brother.

"Where have you been?" She asked, her feet leaving the ground as he swung her around.

"I've been in Ireland. Hold on let me look at you." He set her down, holding her at arms length just as their Nana had done earlier. "All grown up."

"And look at you!" Lily cried, looking him over as well, studying his black robes. "You're an auror!"

Robbie shrugged. And Lily hit him in the shoulder. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You could have written or called, you know! I didn't even know if you were alive or not."

Robbie grinned. "Yes, well, sorry about that." Lily rolled her eyes, but then gave a big smile. "I can't believe you guys are here."

"Awe. Having a big happy Reunion, Evans?"

Lily groaned, at the voice. "Well, I was Nicola, until you showed up." She stepped away from her family, any trace of happiness totally gone.

"Awe," Nicola cooed again. "Don't get depressed on account of me. You need to get all the cheer you can get while you still can. Because I have a feeling that when classes start again tomorrow you're going to be a might bit depressed when everybody starts teasing you."

"Sorry Nicola, but I won't be in classes tomorrow. I'm leaving as a matter of fact, tomorrow night if I can help it."

"You're leaving?" Nicola repeated "Really?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah. I guess that means you won't have anyone to torture anymore huh? I'm sorry."

The brown haired girl scoffed. "Well, I'll be! High and Mighty Lily Evans is running?"

"I'm not running anywhere." Lily muttered turning away. "I'm taking a break to have a real life. You ought to try it. Having a real life, I mean."

"Ha, ha, Lily, very funny."

"Lily! Darling! Introduce us to your friend!" Jocelyn demanded loudly, cutting into the conversation.

"You wouldn't want to meet her Nana." Lily replied, as Nicola opened her mouth. "She's a foul person."

"Lily! Don't be rude!" Nicola insisted sweetly. Lily muttered something in French, making her Nana swat at her side with her handbag. "Lilialana." She scolded. "I did not teach you French so that you could blaspheme. You're a lady and I expect you to behave as such in my presence."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Madame," Nicola said, grinning maliciously at Lily. "But Lily's not a lady. Just a whore."

Lily growled, agitated, and before she knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed Nicola by the throat and pushed her until her back was against the nearest wall. "_I've had just about all I can stand out of you_!"

She lifted her arm, raising Nicola off the floor, and leaving her feet hanging. In her free hand, she held her wand in front of Nicola's reddening face. "I'm going to say this one time, and one time only." She said in a deadly voice. "Shut the hell up and _leave me alone._" Punctuating the last three words with a shake each.

Nicola choked. She could see flames licking around the outside of the girl's green irises. It seemed like she was holding on forever, and just as she was about to pass out, she was on the floor, coughing and sputtering, trying to catch her breath.

"Lily!" Many voices called at once as she headed for the portrait whole. But she ignored them, not seeing, just walking, not feeling anything but pure unadulterated rage for the second time in two days.

When she'd finally come to, she was standing outside, in 30-degree weather, in the pouring rain, with nothing but a thin long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans on. It didn't matter though. She wasn't cold; didn't feel the rain…didn't really see anything as a matter of fact. She just sat there on a rock by the lake, feeling numb and empty, and letting the icy wind bite through her soaked clothing and skin.

This time she didn't cry. There weren't any tears left to cry and even if there had been she was too fed up. Too fed up with everything. All she wanted to do was leave. To go away; somewhere relaxing. Somewhere gorgeous, and peaceful, and far, far away.

She imagined a breath-taking beach with palm trees, and white sand, overlooking ocean, nothing but ocean as far out as the eye can see. There would be people frolicking in swimsuits, and cute boys to talk to.

Well she could do without the cute boys. She did have James after all, and there was nobody better than him. He would be stretched out on a beach towel beside her, and they would be making each other laugh, or they would be wading in the ocean, splashing each other and having a brilliant time.

Then afterwards they would sit by the fire in a cozy little beach house drinking hot cocoa, or apple cider, and she would read to him as she sat in his lap, or maybe they would just talk, cuddled up for warmth until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Lily snapped out of her fantasy as thunder clapped, not for the first time since she'd been sitting there, and lighting struck. She shook her head, to dislodge the water from her eyes, and rose on stiff limbs.

Quickly, she walked back into the castle, taking the shortcuts that the Marauders had taught her to get her quickly to the common room. "Cornish Pixies." She told the Fat Lady through chattering teeth. As she stood there, waiting to be admitted, she felt very much like a drowned rat…if she'd known exactly what a drowned rat felt like. She was pretty sure she looked like one anyways.

Though miserably wet, she still felt a little better than she had when she'd stormed out earlier. That is, until she stepped through the portrait whole. She could see Klansman, that horrible caseworker talking to her grandfather, and she immediately turned back around to leave.

"Lily!" Damn, too late. She'd been spotted. She gave her Grandfather a half-assed smile and went to him as he beckoned her forward. "Where have you been lass? You're soaked!"

"I've just been outside Papa." She explained, trying to diminish the chattering of her teeth. "Well your Nana's upstairs with the Potter's and your friends. Go dry off before you catch your death."

"Yes sir." Lily called over her shoulder as she raced up the stairs, all too happy to oblige. The door to the sixth year boys' dormitory was closed, but she could hear Danielle and Sirena's voices among all of the others. They were all talking…talking about her.

She knocked three quick loud times, and quickly wrapped her arm back around herself. She was bloody cold!

The next three minutes were all a blur: the door was opened and she was yanked inside. She barely had time to notice all of the extra beds that were in the room before she was accosted by both Sirena and her Nana.

"My Goodness, child! What on Earth have you been doing? Swimming in the lake?" That would be her Nana.

"I was sitting outside."

"James, give her something to sleep in." That was Sirena. A thick sweat suit was tossed her way and then shoved into her arms before she was pushed into the bathroom. "Change into dry clothes before you kill yourself." Nana commanded, before sharply pulling the door shut with a bang.

Lily sighed. "_I don't what's gotten into that child! Sitting outside in the freezing rain! I think recent events have addled her brain!_" She heard through the door.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks Nana." She muttered sarcastically before peeling her wet shirt. She changed quickly, drying her hair, her underwear, and her undershirt, before slipping into the way too large gray sweat suit. The waist of the pants had to be rolled down many times and the sleeves had to be pushed up to her elbows. She dug an elastic band out of her wet jeans pocket and tied her hair into a half ponytail at the top of her head.

Then, leaving her wet clothes on the floor in a corner, she cautiously poked her head out into the room. "We aren't going to bite you, you know." Robbie told her. Lily came out, muttering under her breath as she did so. "What's with all the extra beds?" she asked.

"Your brother and your grandparents are staying in here tonight too. And you." Sirena explained. "Me?" Lily asked. "Why?"

"Because you are not sleeping in the same room as that horrible Nicole person." Her grandmother said authoritatively.

"No, you don't have to do that." Lily protested. "It's fine, really."

"Sorry Lils." Sirius said grinning, as he swept her off the floor and dumped her in one of the six extra beds. "But you've been outvoted. You're staying here even if we have to lock you in."

"Lovely." She said wryly.

Danielle looked over at her friend, and smiled softly. She and Alex stayed for a while, until curfew, before they went back to their own room. Lily sat quietly on her bed as the others bustled around, retrieving pajamas and toothbrushes and getting ready for bed.

She looked over and caught James's eye. "You've been quiet today." She said observed. He came over to her bed, sitting next to her and handing her a pair of thick socks. "I'm still in shock I guess." He told her, as she pulled them onto her feet.

"That makes two of us." She replied. She scooted closer and dropped her head onto his shoulder. They were quiet for a while, both getting themselves lost in their thoughts.

Lily felt bad, really bad about all of the events that had taken place in the past week. She wasn't sure how she could handle herself if something more went wrong. She might just give in to the tempting urge to strangle someone if it did. Her tolerance was just that low.

Hell it was that low for as long as she could remember. But yesterday…that was the straw that broke the hippogriff's back. When she'd seen the way people had looked at her before she'd ran from the Great Hall. The knowing looks, the pitying looks, the teasing looks from the Slytherins. It felt…almost as if her heart had broken.

And in a way, it had. She had given the past five plus years of her life to trying to gain acceptance, respect of any kind from these people, these fellow students whom she lived with, learned with, in a sense…grew up with. And after all that time, they still refused to look past her bloodlines or her heritage or their own prejudiced to see the person underneath.

No, she wouldn't think those thoughts again. It was over and done with. They knew, and there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing she could say that would even BEGIN to-

"What are you thinking about?" She asked James, partly too distract herself, and partly to distract him- he had that haunted look in his eyes again.

He shifted slightly, resting his chin on top of her red hair. "You." He muttered. Lily closed her eyes. "What are you thinking about?" He asked warily.

"Me." She answered honestly. "More specifically, how much of a train wreck I am."

"You're not a train wreck." He corrected her immediately. "Don't stick up for me. I am too a train wreck." She replied, still without opening her eyes. "It's okay though. I'm going to ask Nana if I can go with her for a couple of months."

"You really are hell bent on leaving." James observed sadly. Lily nodded. "I'm sorry, but I really don't think I can stay here much longer and retain what little sanity I haven't lost already."

"It's not that I think you shouldn't go." James said. "Because I think a vacation is the best thing…I just don't want to be away from you for a long period of time. I've always been able too see you at school and It'll be horrible not having you here."

"And no one's History of Magic notes to copy." She added teasingly. James smiled, playing with a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her haphazard ponytail. "That too." He agreed.

"Light out gentlemen." Tyler called out warningly. All of the adults were already sheltered under their duvets, and snoring softly. "Goodnight." James whispered, kissing her on the forehead. "'Night James." She murmured back, crawling into her covers.

Tyler extinguished the lights, and for a long time…even after everyone else had gone to sleep, Lily lie awake in her bed, still thinking the same horrible thoughts over and over, Reliving so many horrible memories that she had scared herself.

A floorboard creaked and she shot up, clutching the comforter to her chest and damn near hyperventilating. _Stop it!_ She silently berated herself. _You're being childish_.

But the boards gave another lusty creak and she jumped involuntarily, pretty sure that someone was walking around in the room, from bed to bed.

She reached for her wand on the bedside table, forgetting that she wasn't in her own room until she realized that there wasn't even a table next to the bed and she was in the boys' dorm.

"Who is that?" she whispered in a quivering voice. When nobody answered she began to shake. Maybe…maybe she was just _imagining_ that cloaked figure that was standing in the middle of the room.

Yes, that was it. Her imagination was running away without her was all. "Lils?" James asked in a sleepy voice, rolling over in his bed. "Wassa matter?"

The figure standing between them froze and Lily let out an unconscious whimper. James sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and reaching around for his glasses. "What's wrong?" he asked; a bit more awake this time.

Suddenly the figure moved, rushing towards Lily's bed, and grabbing her before she had time to move. It pointed its wand at James and thin cords shot from it, and the next moment, James was bound and gagged, unable to move.

Lily tried to call out, but a cold clammy hand clamped tightly over her mouth, not letting any sound escape. She thrashed about desperately trying to get loose, but he dug his hands into the roots of her hair, holding on furiously, and with the other her bound her just as he had done James.

"Sit still." Commanded a familiar voice. Lily immediately recognized it. Only one person was stupid and volatile enough to expect such an unstable command to be actually obeyed.

She thrashed about all the harder, struggling in vain against the ropes that held her as he dragged her out of bed and onto the floor by her hair. "I said be still!" Derik commanded again as she bounced along behind him down the stairs.

She winced as the stone steps connected with the back of her skull, until she lost consciousness.

A/N: I am sooooo sorry. I know that totally sucked. It had to be done though, it was a part of my original plot and I don't want to cut it out. This story is really badly written, and I apologize for that. But I have a huge bout of writer's block and I don't know how to fix it.

I do, however, want to thank everyone who reviewed. They are so helpful to me and I still can't believe this sorry story got over 200! **_200_**! Thank you guys so much!

Now I have a question that I would like you to answer, if you would be so kind…Lily **_is_** going on vacation, that's a given. But I am thinking about making the vacation part of a sequel since it is in a different writing style and way better written.

What do you think? You are the ones who will, (I hope) be reading it. Do you think I should make a sequel, or make this one big LONG story?

And if I do write the sequel, would you rather have it in third person point of view? Or alternate third person and Lily's point of view?

If you review, your answers will be really helpful to me, and greatly, GREATLY appreciated. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Clearbrook


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